Salad and Smoothie Round Up Round Up

For the past few days my stomach hasn't been the greatest.  My last post I told you I was trying to start controlling my eating due to the added training.  This has finally caught up with me.  My stomach has decided it does not enjoy being a trash can, shoving whatever I could find to eat into it. 

For the next week I'm going to stick to smoothies and salads.  I actually really enjoy salads.  You can add almost anything into them.  My fall favorite has romaine, roasted sweet potatoes, mushrooms, onions, and sunflower seeds.  Smoothies are just as versatile as salads. You can stick almost any fruit and even some veggies into them.  My favorite smoothie is yogurt or protein powder (depending on which I have), raspberries, a banana, and spinach.  I used to put chia seeds in it but I got aggravated with them being stuck in my teeth for the rest of the day.  If you can find a way to keep them from annoying you then they are a really great thing to add.

Since I am the type of person they doesn't really think out her smoothies and salads I have found some great salad roundups and rounded them up for you.

Smoothie Recipe Roundups

Diabetes Daily -- Recipe Roundup: Smoothies

Jessica Gavin -- Roundup: Healthy Smoothie Recipes

Meghan Telpner -- Shake-up Showdown

The Daily Meal -- 10 Smoothie Recipes So Easy (and Good) You'll Never Skip Breakfast Again

Hungry Hobby -- 18 Unique & Delicious Protein Smoothies

Salad Recipe Roundups

Jessica Gaven -- 15 Summer Salad Recipes

Joyful Healthy Eats -- Summer Salad Roundup

Meal Planning Magic -- Leafy Greens Salad Recipe Roundup

Rachael Ray Mag -- 5 Grilled Salad Recipes

Kudos Kitchen -- Sensational Salad Recipe Roundup 


Do you plan out your salads or just pick up whatever looks good?  

Weather

Every month I say "I'm going to get my blog back on track." and every month I fail.  The past month was especially difficult to try and fit in a blog post.  The hurricane caused my entire community to flood, and my landlord kicked us out and gave us 2 weeks to find a place, pack and move.  But, with the holidays coming up I'm hoping that inspiration for posts will fill my brain and I can get back on track. 

Due to some unforeseen circumstances my eating has been really crazy.  So, most days atleast on of my meals consists of a Quest bar.  I have been slowly working my Way through the various flavors. 

 Strawberry Cheesecake --Actually quite good
Apple Pie  -- Didn't taste anything like apple pie but, it was good.
Mixed berry bliss  -- Very fruity. 
Coconut cashew -- Good.  Needed more coconut flavor.  And it was nice because the coconut didn't taste fake
Banana Nut Muffin -- Good.  And luckily the banana doesn't taste fake
PB&J -- Just okay.
Vanilla Almond Crunch
Lemon Cream Pie
Peanut Butter Supreme

 Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough -- My favorite
Cookies and Cream -- Really good.  Love the chunks of chocolate cookies
S'mores -- Disappointing
Mint Chocolate Chunk -- Tastes like a thin mint
Double Chocolate Chunk -- Another favorite
White Chocolate Raspberry -- Lame.  No real flavor
Chocolate Brownie -- Pretty good but, falls short
Cinnamon Roll -- Boring
Chocolate Peanut Butter -- Another disappointment.  I took this trick or treating with me to curb my candy craving and it doesn't taste like chocolate or peanut butter!

Blueberry Muffin Oatmeal Chocolate Chip -- Good.  Not as good as the chocolate chip cookie dough though
Rocky Road -- Love it!

The blank ones are the ones I haven't been able to try yet.  For the most part I haven't found any that are disgusting.  Some fall short, and a bunch of them I will never buy again but, in general the Quest bars get a 4 out of 5 stars. 

Have you tried Quest bars before?  Comment below with your favorite flavor.

I FINALLY FOUND IT!!!

This is a ZeroBar.  What's a ZeroBar you ask?  It's a fat free, gluten free protein bar.  

I found out about this company from a Facebook folower.  ZeroBar graciously sent me a few bars to test out for y'all.  I'm not going to lie.  I was a bit skeptical about whether or not these were actually going to taste good.  But they are amazing.  The only flavor they have out right now is Cherry Brownie.  {Don't worry though, they have more flavors in the works}  It actually tastes like cherries and chocolate.  

They website says that they made this  for athletes who "want to burn fat, not eat it."  It's also great for the athlete that CAN'T eat fat.  Actually it's great for ANYONE who doesn't want to eat fat.  This bar is great for keeping in your gym bag or your car, your desk or your purse.  It makes a great after workout {or middle of the day} snack!  It would also be great as a midnight munchies snack.  It has a great mix of protein and carbs.  It will keep you fuller longer than many munchies will.  

I let my girls taste these and now they keep bugging me for them. They love them.  Do you have kids?  Do they play sports?  Give them a ZeroBar before or after practice.  Unlike most bars, the amount of protein in these is at an acceptable level for children.  {.95 grams per kilogram of bodyweight a day is reccomended.  So, an 80 lb child needs 34 grams of protein a day.}   The protein will aid in muscle recovery for them, just like it does for adults.  And carbs are the most important energy source.  It will help them fuel/refuel.  

Want to find out more about ZeroBar?  Want to get some for yourself?  Check them out and tell them you heard about them on The Fit Beach Babe!

Website: http://www.zerobar.us/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/zerobarus

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/zerobarus

Ow!

Every once and a while things that seem bad are actually blessings in disguise.  When I had to back out of the competition late last month I didn't know that it was actually going to turn out to be a good thing.  If I hadn't backed out {I hate the word quit.  I refuse to quit anything!}  then, I'd have to back out now.  I managed to hurt myself the other day at the gym.  

On Tuesday, leg day, I decided to warm up with some squats.  My back had been sore for about a week and I had honestly been ignoring it.  I have a few disk issues from my car accident in 2010.  But when I did my squats on Tuesday I felt a not-so-pleasant rip in my back.  

As much as  hated to have to do it, I put myself on a cardio only plan until Sunday.  And if my workout on Sunday doesn't feel right, I'll be back to cardio on Monday. 

My workout is really simple.  I do an hour a day.  Normally I split it up between the elliptical and the arc trainer.  I've decreased my carbs a bit since I'm not strength training.  

One of the carbs I am really loving right now are apples.  This time of year Walmart has apples for 99 cents a pound.  I always end up making one apple dessert every year.  Normally it's an apple pie.  Apple pie is one of the seasonal pies, isn't it?  You have to eat atleast 1 every year.  My dad used to make the BEST apple pie.  He used granny smith apples in his pie which made it tart.  I really miss that pie.  Hell, I miss every type of pie.  I have a secret though.  I make pie flavored smoothies.  I make an apple pie smoothie and a pumpkin pie smoothie.  

These smoothies are so much easier than making the actual pie!  You just dump all the ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth.  

Pumpkin Pie Smoothie

1 cup unsweetened almond milk
1 serving vanilla protein powder
.5 cup pumpkin
Large dash cinnamon
Dash ginger
Pinch cloves
Sprinkle nutmeg

Apple Pie

1 cup unsweetened almond milk
1 serving vanilla protein powder
1 Granny Smith apple
Large dash cinnamon
Dash allspice
Pinch nutmeg
Pinch ginger


I also make a spice cake smoothie 

Spice Cake

1 cup unsweetened almond milk
1 serving vanilla protein powder
Large dash Cinnamon
Dash Cloves
Dash Allspice


Are you an apple pie person, a pumpkin pie person, both or neither?  Also, how do you deal with injury?  Let me know.

PR

As much as I like to believe I am She-Hulk, I'm not.  {Shocker, right??!!??}  But, I'm starting to feel more like She-Hulk every week. Today I set 2 new PRs {Personal Records}.  

100 lbs on the seated cable row and 60 lbs on deadlifts.  

My back is the body part I'm proudest of.  It is shaping up the best.  So well in fact, I'm not training it as hard anymore in order to let the other parts of my body catch up.  I still love Back Day.  

Maybe in order to congratulate myself I'll buy myself a pumpkin mocha from Dunkin Donuts.  I love autumn.  It's pumpkin flavored EVERYTHING season!!

Have you set any new PRs this week?  Pumpkin Spice -- Love it or Leave it?  Let me know below!!

Miracle Drink

When you are training for a competition your macros (short for macronutritents; protein, fat and carbohydrates) are very structured.  You are limited to certain amounts per meal and per day for each of these.  For example, on a high carb day my limit is 95.  

On top of restricting carbs you also have to restrict your sugar intake.  {You should be watching your sugar intake no matter whether you're training or not honestly}  When it comes to what you can drink, watching all of these numbers pretty much leaves water and....well, water.

I had serious problems with this for the first few weeks.  I started only using my soy milk (I don't drink regular milk) in my morning oatmeal on my cheat day.  After suspecting that I have a soy intolerance and deciding to cut out all soy products from my diet I realized I'd have to ditch my cheat soy milk.  I knew that there were other nondairy options so, I started checking them out online.  

Most other milks had too much fat and carbs.  When I looked at the nutritional information for almond milk I was shocked.  

Low fat, no cholesterol, not too much sodium, <1 gram of carbs and 0 grams of sugar??!!?? Rock and roll!!  Now I can use it every day.  No more watery protein shakes?  No more non-creamy oatmeal?  This stuff is a miracle.  I'm in love!  You know what  the first thing I did with my almond milk?  Make a smoothie!  The carb for the meal was supposed to be complex, which means sweet potato (I can have other ones, I just really REALLY love sweet potatoes).  I decided to blend it all up together.  

Sweet Potato Smoothie

6 oz sweet potato, cooked
31 g (1 scoop) Protein Powder
6 oz silk unsweetened original almond milk
3 g PB2
1 T sugar free maple syrup (if your macros allow)
dash cinnamon

Directions

1. Scoop out the flesh of the sweet potato, discard (or eat) the skin
2. Place all the ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth

Have you had to cut anything out of your diet only to find a better substitute?