What It Means to Eat Clean on a Menu Plan

The reality is, that even when we are clean eaters, we can still over eat in calories.  This is where I found myself a couple of weeks ago.  It's few and far between that I put a ton of crap in my body (minus out my rare visits to Ugly Omelete, where I absolutely must have their Peanut Butter Chip Pancakes), but the reality hit around last Wednesday when I just knew that I had been over eating.  I had been using my extreme workouts as an excuse to eat what ever portion of food that I desired, and so, I found myself making very little progress with my appearance, and great gains with my actual cardio.  TRAGIC!!!  To spend so much time kicking my own butt, and then to over eat so that I see no results on the outside from it.  Well, c'est la vie! It's over, it's in the past...

Monday I started a Les Mills Challenge Group with a group of girls, some who I currently working with, some who I knew from other restaurants.  Going back to a menu plan was indeed some work.  Just setting it up was a mini project, and then teaching others my process was also a learning experience.  The first week of the Eat Right for the Fight Nutrition Guide is a 7-Day Metabolic Jump-Start Program where women are suggested to eat around 1200 calories and men 1500.

1200 calories for me was like food prison.  With P90X I was eating about 1800-2100 calories a day, never mind that I had been over eating for the last week leading up to that Monday, so you can imagine how that caloric deficit made me feel!  But, I went through the meal plan, set up my meals for the week, and made my grocery list based off of that.  Little did I know, this was going to not only introduce me to some awesome new recipes, but it was going to finally catapult me out of the 'snack' rut that I had been in for months.

What follows is just a brief glimpse of what I ate during our 7-Day Metabolic Jump-Start Plan.  In the end, some meals near the end of the week ended up getting swapped around because I did not want anything to go past it's expiration date.

7-Day Metabolic Jump-Start Plan

	MONDAY	TUESDAY	WEDNESDAY	THURSDAY	FRIDAY	SATURDAY	SUNDAY
BREAKFAST	Rainbow Scramble	Eggs with Smoked Turkey	Pro-Oatmeal	Broccoli and Feta Omelet	Rainbow Scramble	Eggs with Smoked Turkey	Pro-Oatmeal
SNACK 1	PB Toast and Cottage Cheese	Chocolate Green Tea Smoothie	Turkey and Cheese on Rice Cake	Chocolate Green Tea Smoothie	PB Toast and Cottage Cheese	Chocolate Green Tea Smoothie	Turkey and Cheese on Rice Cake
LUNCH	Avocado, Tempeh, and Almond Salad	Brown Rice Bowl	Burger and Salad	Greek Pita Sandwich	Avocado, Tempeh, and Almond Salad	Brown Rice Bowl	Burger and Salad
SNACK 2	Citrus Berry Smoothie	Turkey & Cheese of Rice Cake	Citrus Berry Smoothie	Mediterranean Eggs	Citrus Berry Smoothie	Roast Beef Sandwich	Citrus Berry Smoothie
DINNER	Southwestern Chicken Salad	Grilled Tuna over Mixed Greens	Spicy Tomato and Lentil Soup	Grilled Steak and Arugula Salad	Southwestern Chicken Salad	Grilled Tuna over Mixed Greens	Spicy Tomato and Lentil Soup
Calories	1207	1243	1207	1220	1207	1234	1207

Day 1

Proved to be pretty darn delicious.  Convenience definitely went out the window basically because I had to learn new recipes, prep, and remember how to measure ingredients and use correct portion sizes, but it definitely refreshed my memory on how I had been way over eating! 

Day 2

Again, the food was amazing.  I had never really used Shakeology with Greek Yogurt, and truth be told, I didn't love this recipe, but I like that it included the the metabolic boosters of yogurt and green tea, and for that, I'll make sacrifices on my usual recipe.  Also, my original scheduled snack wasn't Turkey and Cheese on Rice Cake with Raspberries, but I wasn't in the mood for what I had originally put on, so I substituted.  The Tuna salad for dinner was amazing, although I could find Tuna Steak in either of the two grocery stores near me, so I ended up having to use canned tuna.  Still, it was an amazing recipe!

Day 3

LUH-UV the Pro-Oatmeal, although I have to say I was a bit shocked to see just how little the portion size was for it.  I mean, I served it with egg whites and fruit, but still, it didn't even fill the 1 cup ramekin that I had it in, and that was just disappointing!  However, the burger was AMAZING, and the tomato and lentil soup was something I couldn't wait to have again.  

Day 4

This was probably one of my favorite days of meal plans.  I loved that I could have Feta Cheese, in fact I love all cheese, so any cheese is better than no cheese.  Also, I cannot believe how much I like the hard boiled egg whites with the hummus in place of the yolk.  It tasted so much like deviled eggs, that I'm pretty sure it tricked my brain into thinking it actually was deviled eggs.  I was bummed when I realized later in the day that I forgot to put Feta Cheese on my pita. It was still pretty delicious, but I was bummed nonetheless!  And steak on my salad, well, I am a red meat lover, so that was a nice little treat.

Day 5 repeated Day 1's meal plan, and Day 7 repeated Day 3's meal plan, so there were no big surprises there.  Day 6 did have a tiny bit of a change up in that I made the Roast Beef Sandwich (I wish I had done that earlier in the week, it was delicious), and the Grilled Tuna over Mixed Greens got a bit of a remix because of what we had left in the fridge.

Day 6

The Roast Beef Sandwich was amazing, and I ended up modifying the Tuna Salad again because I couldn't find tuna steak, and I put an over easy egg on the salad because I didn't have any hard boiled.  I also used the remainder of some canned tomatoes because I didn't have any fresh tomatoes, and I didn't want to waste what I had already opened.  

I do want to briefly touch on how I felt during this 7-Day Metabolic Jump-Start Plan because I think it's important for other people to realize that this journey is not easy, even for someone who has made the clean eating jump already, and knows how to organize and set up a menu plan, and shopping list.

The first couple days of this Challenge we extremely hard.  The workouts weren't nearly as intense as Asylum, which I had just finished, but the lack of calories really did a number on my energy levels.  I know that the second day at work was a real challenge, not only for myself, but for the other girls who were working that night as well.  We were all hungry, we were all tired, and we were all cranky.  When your body is used to a certain number of calories, and you introduce a new and different workout, you're going to see a reaction in how you function and how you sleep.  FACT.  I found that my Coaching really took place during these first few days when we were all getting in the swing of things, and were struggling to adjust our daily caloric intake.  

Just like my workouts, I approached this caloric deficit day-by-day, crossing off each day on my calendar.  Was I hungry the first couple of days?  ABSOLUTELY, but I trucked on until I was feeling amazing by day four.  I had adjusted to the calories that I was taking in, I was in a rhythm with my meal planning, and I was enjoying being introduced to new recipes.  I had totally fallen into a rut with my clean eating where I was eating the same snack all of the time, and preparing the same meals all of the time because I was getting lazy, and not paying attention to what my body needed.

Below you will find a video on how to transition from the 7-Day Metabolic Jump-Start Plan to the day-to-day menu planning for the remainder of the program.  So, if you're someone who is interested in the program, and is curious what the meal plans are like, or you're someone who's currently doing the program, and needs help moving forward, definitely check it out!

Stay tuned throughout the next couple months, as this journey continues for myself, and my Challenge Group girls.  Who knows, maybe I can get one of them to share their experience with changing over to a new clean eating lifestyle!

Until then, KEEP STRONG.  KEEP MOVING. And, KEEP PUSHING PLAY!!!

Maria

Cinco de Mayo Mexi-Burger

I feel like Joey on Friends.  As I'm looking through my pictures, there has recently been a whole lot of burgers and sandwiches.  I'm not sure where this sudden urge to make sandwiches came from, but apparently, I was feeling the burger/sandwich craving the last couple weeks.  

The idea for this burger came from a recipe book, but morphed into my own little creation when I made my own salsa, and mixed it right into my ground turkey meat.  It made for a very light, citrus-flavored meat, as opposed to traditional savory burger.  

Ingredients:
2 Vine ripe tomatoes, diced
2 tbsp. Cilantro, chopped
1/2 Yellow onion, diced
Zest of 1/2 Lime
Juice of 1/2 Lime
Sea salt and fresh ground Black Pepper
1lb. Ground turkey breast
4 Slices of Mexican cheese, your choice
1 Avocado, sliced
1 Vine ripe tomato, sliced
1 c. Baby spinach
4 Multi-grain Sandwich Flats

Take the first seven ingredients and mix them well in a bowl.  Let them marinate in your fridge for up to one hour.  Then, form them into four patties and either grill them, or pan sear them.  Turkey should be cooked through, so depending on the size of your burgers I would say about 5 minutes on each side.  As Bobby Flay would say, any burger should only be turned once, and don't go squishing down on the poor thing, squeezing all of the yummy juices out of it!  Leave the darn thing alone, flip it, and in the last minute, throw your cheese on to melt.  As with any meat, let your burger rest so that all the juices can get nice and comfy inside your burger. 

Set up your burger "bun" (or muti-grain flats) with your avocado slices, tomato slices, and spinach.  Top it with your Mexi-Burger, and voila, a nice light, refreshing turkey burger, that tastes more like spring, than the weighed-down, greasy BBQ burger you're used to.

On a side note, because there is lime juice, and tomato in the burger, you'll find that they do release a fair amount of juices while you're eating them, so make sure you keep your napkin close by, and don't attempt to make this your lunch while you're driving down 495 in your car.

Bad-Ass Bison Burgers

I love a good burger, but I very rarely CRAVE a burger to the point of breaking.  My husband however, can dream about a good burger for an entire month, waiting until he feels he "deserves" his burger and then sits down at a restaurant, napkin in hand, with fingers ready for french fry dipping. 

The idea of trying the bison burger came primarily out of the fact that I was finishing up a round of P90X, and I wanted to go to Kimball's Farm to get ice cream, and I had been planning this for about a month.  Three days prior to this, my husband turned to me and said, I know you want to get ice cream, but I really want a Gibbet burger.  Well, too bad for him. I wasn't coming into work on my day off, when I was supposed to be eating ice cream, so that he could have a burger.  And so, to the ground bison I went to satiate his burger craving.  

Ingredients:

16 oz. Ground bison meat
2 Bakery whole wheat ciabatta rolls, toasted
Salt, pepper, garlic powder to taste
1/2 Yellow onion
3/4 c. Chopped mushroom
Cheese of your choice
1 Roma tomato
1/2 c. Romaine lettuce

I'm sure, by know, you're all aware that I grill my meat as often as  possible, so of course this is the cooking approach that I took with the bison burger itself.  The only ingredients I add to the meat is the salt, pepper, and garlic powder, and I then form the meat into two patties (yeah, I like an 8 oz. burger, no matter how unnecessary that may be).  Prior to throwing the bison on the grill, I caramelized the onion and mushroom by sauteing them in a non-stick pan over medium heat, so it would be ready to place on the burger as soon as the burger is done.  

While the bison is cooking on the grill, spray the buns with a little bit of olive oil, and throw them on the grill to toast.  Because bison is an extremely lean meat, the recommended temperature for the meat is between medium rare or medium.  If you prefer your meat more done than this, I would warn you that bison tends to get dry and tasteless once you go too far into medium well.  Both myself and my husband have grilled meat in restaurants, so as far as temperature goes, we can tell how far along the meat is just by touch and look, but use a meat thermometer if you need to.  

Once the meat hits medium rare, I top the burger with the mushroom and onion, and then place the cheese on top to melt (in this case I used a goat chevre, although on my husbands, I used a Swiss cheese).  I then placed some chopped Romaine lettuce and sliced Roma tomato to the bun, and then took a giant bite into one of the best burgers I've probably every had.  My husband actually looked at me after his first two bites and said, "I could never eat a ground beef burger again, and totally be OK with it!"     

The reality is, that bison meat is far more expensive than ground beef (about $8 for a pound of bison), but you are paying for the health benefits of bison, and when you see the comparison of fats and nutrients to several other meats, it's obvious why bison can be the better choice.  

National Bison Association