We all know that to get the results we want with the workout we choose, we need to follow the meal plan that came with our workout. Easier said than done, I know. But this can be especially difficult for people who follow a vegan, or 100% plant-based, diet. Sure, you can substitute tofu and protein powders for the animal proteins in the meal plan, but who wants to be living off of tofu and protein powders for the next 90 days? And is it going to be something you'd want to continue after you finish the program? (By the way, that's a good way to figure out if what you're doing is a sustainable lifestyle change. Ask yourself, "Would I eat like this AFTER day 90?") 

Every time I do a new program I try to follow the meal plan 100% (while still remaining vegan) because it's the best way to find out just what kind of results someone can expect from it, and it's the fastest way to get results. I just finished up the 21-Day Fix this weekend and was able to easily do it vegan, and I even did a round of Body Beast, including the competition prep week, vegan. (THAT was a challenge!) 

Over the years I've definitely seen a change in Beachbody's meal plans. They're now focusing more on quality of food, and less on quantity, and they're taking into consideration people's different dietary concerns and allergies, whether you are lactose intolerant, gluten sensitive, Paleo or vegan, and so far the easiest to follow meal plan for vegans is from P90X3! (Other than the 21-Day Fix, that meal plan is in a category of it's own because of it's portion control system, which I LOVE LOVE LOVE! It's seriously so simple.)

The P90X3 meal plan gives you a simple calculation to figure out which level of calories you need, and each level is broken down into carbs, protein and fat. For myself, I fell under "Plan A", which is roughly 1,500 calories, and each day I was allotted 5 proteins, 10 carbs and 5 fats. One of the most notable things with the P90X3 meal plan is that you are not stuck substituting things for the protein category, so no tofu and protein powders (unless, of course, you want to!) Vegans are able to replace as many protein portions with a carb as you like, the only recommendation is to evenly distribute the grains and beans/legumes. How great is that! 

Here's what the P90X3 shopping guide looks like for vegans! 

And here is what a week of meals look like! 

Whether you're vegan or not, I'd love to help you reach your health and fitness goals! Feel free to connect with me on facebook and follow me on Instagram and let me know what I can do to help YOU! 

As promised, here is my week 2 update for the 21-Day Fix! First of all, I seriously can't believe how fast this is going. Two weeks already! 

Since my first post, I've had a few people express concern over the size of the color coded food containers. Yes, they LOOK small, but trust me, they hold A LOT more food than you'd think! In fact, everyone in my 21-Day Fix accountability group has commented at some point that they're amazed at the amount of food they're able to eat on this plan, and still lose weight! That's because they're fueling their body with nutrient dense foods. 

This week I bumped myself up the the next  level of calories, which allows me a couple extra containers. I've also been experimenting a lot more with my food. I'm still doing a lot of smoothies and stir fry's, but I've also been adding other things like sushi, sweet potato and red pepper bisque, kale, quinoa and avocado salad and brownie bites. (Yes! Brownie bites!) Now that I'm in the swing of things, food prep has become second nature and I'm able to adapt some of my favorite recipes to fit the plan. 

This week was also the first week I used one of my "Zings", or substitutions. You're allowed three Zings a week, and they include wine, chocolate and there are even a few cookie recipes you can use. I was pretty boring and I used mine for soy milk in my decaf coffee. It's actually been an interesting two weeks, I haven't even wanted to cheat on the meal plan and I haven't had any cravings at all (which is TOTALLY not like me!) It's also been super easy to follow the meal plan using printable charts that can be found here. 

This week also came with some pretty EXCITING NEWS for VEGANS! This week we got the green light to add beans, lentils and quinoa to the red foods category! This news came at the perfect time, too. After two weeks of protein powders and tofu I feel like I've swallowed a brick! I'm also pretty happy I get to add some more fiber back into my diet. So this is what the updated vegan 21-Day Fix food list looks like!

I'm getting much better with the workouts, too. I'm getting the moves down, I'm not as sore, and I'm already seeing RESULTS!!! I can honestly say that I have never in my life worked my abs as much as I have this past week, which is good news because I'm heading on a Beachbody cruise in just four short weeks. After two weeks of doing the 21-Day Fix, I'm down 2.8 lbs, putting my total weight loss since Christmas at 9.4 lbs!

So now that I'm entering into my final week, a few things are going to change. First, I'm going to add in the Plyo Fix bonus workout. This is a free workout you get when you order through your coach (me!) and can be added in any time you feel like doing a little extra cardio, or you can use it to replace Cardio Fix, which is what I'll be doing at least one of the days. Second, I'll be switching over to the 3-Day Quick Fix meal plan for my final three days, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. This is a 3-day bikini prep meal plan that is optional for your last 3 days of the 21-Day Fix. It is a typical competition meat and veggies diet, so I'll be pulling out the tofu and protein powders again for those three days. 

This week also came with some other great news! After the 21-Day Fix SOLD OUT only 3 days after being released, back orders started shipping this past weekend. If you'd like to learn how to FUEL YOUR BODY properly for optimal weight loss and energy, reserve your spot for my next facebook accountability group by messaging me on facebook or filling out the form found here and I will get back to you shortly! 

How to do Body Beast on a 100% plant-based, vegan diet. Say what? YES! It is possible to build muscle AND follow a traditional bodybuilding diet while still remaining vegan, it just requires a little creativity! Since the bulk of most traditional bodybuilding diets are based around meat, eggs and dairy, most people would think it's not possible to make them vegan. But I'm about to show you how easy it can be! 

When Scott and I did Body Beast last fall, we wanted to follow the meal plan as close as possible, while still remaining 100% plant-based. While it did require a little tweaking and some calculations, we were able to follow the plan and had AMAZING results! See for yourself! 

The Body Beast meal plan is broken down into three phases; Build, Bulk and Beast. For all three of the phases, there are calculations to figure out your daily caloric needs, each phase's meal plan is broken down into different portions (ie. 5 starches, 2 legumes, 4 veggies, etc. per day) and (most importantly!) it also breaks down the your day's nutrition into the macro nutrient counts (protein, carb and fat %'s). While you could follow the Portion Charts, it would be extremely difficult to make proper substitutions for each category, and especially difficult to maintain it for a full 90 days. So we're going to focus on the macro nutrient counts. 

Following the macro nutrient counts is much easier than it sounds. There are so many nutrition tracking apps out there. All you do is enter or scan your food, and it tells you everything you need to know. We used the myfitnesspal app. (My user name is JulieJeep. Feel free to add me!) You can adjust your daily calorie goals on myfitnesspal from the app, but to adjust the macro %'s you need to log in from a computer. Just go to www.myfitnesspal.com and once you're logged in go to Goals then Change Goals and select Custom. From there you can adjust your daily % goals for protein, carbs and fat, as well as your calories. You can also adjust your daily sodium goals, which will come in handy if you decide to do Body Beast's one week Competition Plan once you finish the Beast phase. (Which we did!) 

So now that you know how to track your nutrition, here's how to veganize the supplements! There are a few different Body Beast supplements; Hardcore Base Shake, Fuel Shot, MAX Creatine and Super Suma. Only the MAX Creatine supplement is vegan, so this is what we used to create the others. I should also add that we continued to use vegan Shakeology daily while doing Body Beast. 

I hope that helped break down each individual supplement and how to make a vegan version. Here's how we put it all together to make the Body Beast Post Workout Drink!

If you've been thinking of doing a muscle building program like Body Beast, but aren't sure where to start as a vegan, or would just like to connect with other like minded people, sign up for our free coaching here and we'll get you added to our facebook accountability group! Trust us, we know what it's like to be a vegan surrounded by a bunch of non-vegans in the fitness world. We'll help you get through it! 

Chances are you've heard of both quinoa and tabbouleh before, but aren't really sure what either one is. Quinoa has gained popularity over the years, and was even featured in a recent NFL beer commercial. It's a complete protein and is a good source of fiber, phosphorus, magnesium and iron. It's also gluten-free. Tabbouleh is a middle eastern salad typically made with bulgur wheat. By using quinoa in this tabbouleh instead of bulgur, it's suitable for people who are eating gluten-free. 

1 cup dry quinoa, cooked according to package directions
1 cucumber, diced
3 roma tomatoes, diced
green onions, chopped
1 bunch parsley, chopped
handful fresh mint, chopped
juice from one lemon
sea salt

Cook quinoa according to package directions. Let cool, mix in all other ingredients. Variations: garlic, cinnamon, shredded carrots, olives

Serve in lettuce wraps. Makes 4 servings.  

Per serving:
Calories: 209
Total Fat: 2.8 g
Cholesterol: 0 mg
Total Carbs: 36.1 g
Dietary Fiber: 1.8 g
Protein: 8 g

Kale! This powerful leafy green superfood is quickly finding it's way into the homes of many people who are trying to get healthy. And for good reason! It's packed with vitamins K, A and C, has more calcium than milk, more iron than beef, is loaded with antioxidants and is anti-inflammatory. If you haven't tried kale yet, what are you waiting for!? :) Scott and I both put a big handful of kale in our green smoothies every morning, but there are a few other ways to eat this super charged plant. One of those ways is kale chips! 

Kale chips are great for people like me, who like to have food to pick at. I can get stuck mindlessly eating a bag of chips, but kale chips help erase the guilt! And they're super easy to make. You can use either your oven or a dehydrator. I like to use my dehydrator because I can control the temperature better, and keep the temp low enough so that they're still considered a raw food. By keeping them raw, more of the enzymes and nutrients are still intact. 

You can play around with the different spices as you go, but this recipe for kale chips is one of my favorites so far. Today I started with a BIG bag of kale that I got from BJ's Wholesale. I know, not organic, but the convenience factor won me over because they were already broken into small pieces. If you do decide to use fresh kale, you'll want to make sure you wash it really well, remove the stems, and break it into small pieces. If you're using kale from a bag, be sure to go through and remove the stems. 

• 1 large bag or 1-2 large bundles of kale, de-stemmed and broken into pieces

Once you've washed your kale, removed the stems and broken it into pieces, put it in a large bowl and add the oil and agave. I usually use olive oil, but today the only oil I had in my house was coconut oil and it worked just as well, I just had to warm it a bit first so it was a softer consistency. Mix together one Tbsp oil to one to two Tbsp's agave, depending on how sweet you want them. Massage the kale with the oil and agave in a large bowl, making sure the mixture is coating all the kale. (Massaging kale is also great when using kale for salads, too!) Sprinkle with sea salt and cayenne. Be careful with the cayenne, the kale will shrink when it dehydrates, the cayenne will NOT! 

• 1 Tbsp coconut oil or olive oil
• 1-2 Tbsp agave
• Himalayan salt
• cayenne pepper

Once you have all the kale coated it's ready to go into the dehydrator. Spread out the kale evenly, then adjust your temperature so it's below 118 F. This will ensure that they're still raw. I put my temperature gauge somewhere between the first two settings. It will take a few hours for them to dry out. You'll be able to tell when they're ready because they will be crispy and won't be flexible. I just use a cheap dehydrator that I got years ago. It works well enough. Sometimes the food on the top shelves gets done a bit sooner than the bottom shelves, so I just remove the top shelves once they're done and keep the bottom ones on until they're ready. 

Once they're done they're ready to eat! Store them in an airtight container in the fridge. Just before I eat them I sprinkle them with nutritional yeast.

• 1-4 Tbsp nutritional yeast

Enjoy! :) 

There's been a lot of talk about Shakeology in my challenge groups lately so I wanted to write a post to explain both HOW I feel about Shakeology and WHY I feel the way I do. I will start this by saying that yes, I am a Beachbody coach. Yes, I get paid for selling Shakeology. I also get paid for selling a plethora of other nutritional supplements, meal replacements, vitamins, nutritionals, bars, etc. through Beachbody. But, I bet you didn't know that. Why? Because I don't use them myself. When I started coaching, doing this as a full time job was the last thing on my mind. You see, I am a Beachbody coach, first and foremost, because I want to HELP people. If I wouldn't use a product myself, I'm not going to recommend it to others. If I believe a product is going to improve your health and get you the best results possible, you're going to hear about it. A lot. Am I going to push it on you? No. When you tell me you want to get the best results ever am I going to recommend it? Hell yes! Because my ultimate goal is to help people, I also don't require people to be using Shakeology, or to even doing a Beachbody workout, to be in my challenge group, which a lot of other coaches do. I'm here to support you no matter what workout you're doing and no matter what your diet looks like.

Which brings me to my next topic, taste. I know I don't exactly eat like everyone else, but I seriously LOVE the taste of Shakeology. I started using vegan tropical Shakeology when it first came out in early 2012, and in June 2012 when vegan chocolate Shakeology came out I added that flavor in, also. The first week or so, I'll admit, the vegan chocolate had a "green" taste to it, but you know what? I still loved it! You know why? Because I knew just what was in it and what it was doing for my body. When you stop looking at foods as "pleasure items" and start looking at them as what they're meant to be, FUEL FOR YOUR BODY, your thoughts and tastes change. I stopped eating cheese and dairy 4 years ago this month. Literally if you had told me one month before that that I'd never eat it again, I would have thought you had lost your mind. I get asked all the time how hard it is and if I crave it, and honestly, it's so much easier than I ever would have thought for one single reason, I educated myself to the benefits. That's it! When you EDUCATE YOURSELF TO THE BENEFITS of the food you're putting in your body (or not putting in your body!) you begin to look at it in a whole new light. Cheese didn't turn into an "I CAN'T eat that but I want it" food, it turned into an "I could eat it if I wanted, but I know the health benefits of NOT eating it" food. That's the same with Shakeology (only I still swear it tastes great!) When you educate yourself to the benefits of Shakeology, you look forward to it. You know you're NOURISHING YOUR BODY. You know you're taking that extra step toward your health and your results. If you're looking for a milkshake, go have a milkshake. If you're looking for great tasting nutrition, then have a Shakeology!

When you educate yourself to the benefits, you slowly start to see just what is in Shakeology. There are numerous other "health shakes" on the market, too many to count, that probably cost a lot less and taste a lot better. If you're only looking for taste and cost, then by all means, buy them! BUT, when you truly put your HEALTH first, and flip over the bag of Shakeology and COMPARE it to the rest of the shakes that are out on the market, you'll very quickly see that there is NO comparison. I can't stress this enough, there is no other whole foods meal replacement shake on the market that even comes close to the nutrition you get from Shakeology. That's it. Shakeology has over 70 superfoods, antioxidants, wheatgrass, maca, digestive enzymes, pre and probiotics, the list goes on. When's the last time you priced out wheatgrass, maca, digestive enzymes or probiotics? If you were to buy just those four ingredients separately to use daily you would already be spending well over what you'd spend on Shakeology in one month. And when's the last time you tasted wheatgrass or maca? Let me tell you, Scott and I have eaten some pretty nasty things in our day in the pursuit of health, including wheatgrass and maca. I get the shivers just smelling wheatgrass, and there is no concoction big enough that I've been able to make to mask the taste of maca in a smoothie. And you're telling me I can get both of these in Shakeology for a fraction of the cost AND it tastes great! You better believe I'm choosing Shakeology. And if it didn't taste as great as it does? With all those benefits, I'd still be crazy NOT to drink it. 

All this, and I haven't even gotten to the benefits yet! So many people see so many benefits when they use Shakeology DAILY. (Notice I said daily, NOT when you remember, not when it's convenient, DAILY.) This is why I don't give out Shakeology samples anymore, one try isn't going to tell you anything. You need to use it daily to see the benefits. Just like eating healthy or working out for one day isn't going to make you lose a year of weight gained, Shakeology also has a cumulative effect. Some results are going to be subtle. My hairdresser kept telling me for months how she couldn't believe how long and healthy my hair was getting. It wasn't until one day she said, "Ok, I've got to know! What hair vitamins are you taking?" Then it dawned on me, it was Shakeology! I've noticed my skin clear up, I have more energy, I don't have as many cravings. For others it's drastic. One of my challengers dropped her cholesterol by over 50 points once she started using Shakeology and working out with TurboFire. Others have been able to get off of prescription medications, including diabetes medications, lower their cholesterol and blood pressure, and improve their digestion. 

So, what's your health worth? What ARE you spending $4 a day on? Are you going out to eat for lunch? Are you stopping at Starbucks in the morning? Maybe you're not spending $4 a day, but what about $28 a week? Are you going out for drinks on the weekend? Are you getting a manicure or pedicure? Buying some new clothes? The price of Shakeology may seem like a lot up front, especially because when's the last time you bought 30 days worth of meals at one time, but I promise you, your health is worth it. YOU'RE WORTH IT! People are so quick to spend money on menial things that will be gone in no time, and will not effect their lives in any positive way in the long run. Forget about short term gratification. Stop putting a dollar sign on the importance of your health. VALUE YOUR HEALTH! 

Sorry if this was a little longer than most of my posts, but I really wanted to make sure you understand just what Shakeology is, and why I'm so passionate about it. If YOU'RE ready to INVEST IN YOUR HEALTH, comment below or message me here and I will get back to you asap and answer any other questions you may have about Shakeology! 

Maybe you've heard of it, maybe you haven't, but did you know you can make your own seitan at home for WAY less than buying it pre-packaged? 

If you haven't heard of it, seitan is a high protein, low carb, low fat meat substitute made from vital wheat gluten. It can be found in the refrigerated section of health food stores. A typical 8 oz. package of seitan costs around $5, but you can easily make your own for a fraction of that. 

Today we're using Bob's Red Mill vital wheat gluten flour. One 22 oz. package costs around $5 and will make the equivalent of over $40 of store bought seitan. That's a HUGE savings! And it's so easy to make.

To make your own seitan all you need to do is mix some spices in with the vital wheat gluten flour (today we used garlic powder and onion powder), add water, mix, cut into small pieces and boil. That's it! It really is that simple! The back of the bag will give you the exact measurements for water and flour. Enjoy! :)

Tomorrow is Day 1 of Body Beast for Scott & I and I can't wait!!! Body Beast is a new program that just came out this spring and is like no other Beachbody program on the market. It's main goal is to put ON weight in the form of muscle. It is completely geared towards men, but the more people I talk to I am finding more and more women doing it. 

Scott is going to do the Huge Beast schedule and I'm going to do the Lean Beast schedule. From what I can tell so far our schedules should be about the same with the exception of about 1 workout each week. 

Scott's looking forward to putting on some size. He has been running a lot this summer, and while he is still very muscular, he's leaned out a bit more than he'd like. 

I have a few goals...

• put on muscle
• get abs :)
• prove to women that lifting heavy won't make you "bulky"
• do unassisted pullups
• prove that a vegan can put on muscle
• be in the Body Beast infomercials 

We're planning on following the meal plan perfectly... which, as you can imagine, can be tough for two vegans. A majority of the meal plan is made up of meat and eggs, and it discourages the use of soy because of it's effects on estrogen, testosterone and metabolism, so tofu is out. We're also planning on taking the Body Beast supplements... with a few tweaks and replacements to the non-vegan ones (I'll post the supplements in a future blog once I see how they work). So far it looks like it's going to be doable with some prep work and planning ahead, but if we get into it and find we're living off of protein powders then we may rethink things as we go. According to the meal plan, I'm supposed to have 9 proteins a day and Scott is supposed to have 13. Thankfully, each serving of Shakeology counts as 2 proteins and a fruit, so we'll each be having 2 servings of Shakeology a day to count as 4 proteins each.

I can't wait to get this started and share my results with everyone! Beast up!

If you're like me you've probably never heard of jicama before, or if you have, you've probably walked past it in the grocery store thinking, "what is that?", "who eats that?" and "what do they do with it?" When it turned up on the Ultimate Reset shopping list for not one, not two, but all three weeks I knew I was about to find out!

Surprisingly, it was easy to find and available at both of my local grocery stores so someone out there must be eating it!

So what is jicama? First off, it's pronounced HEE-kah-mah... but I didn't find this out until after I was calling it Ji-kah-mah, so now the real pronunciation sounds funny to me. It's also called a "yam bean" or "Mexican turnip". Originating from Mexico and South America, jicama is a root vegetable with a papery brown cover and a crisp, white inside like a potato or apple. It is from the legume family and grows on vines that can reach up to 20' in length. Only the root should be eaten as the rest of the plant is very poisonous, and they must be peeled before eating.

Jicama is made up of 85-90% water, is high in carbohydrates and dietary fiber, and has only trace amounts of fat and protein. It's rich in vitamins A, C and B, calcium and phosphorus. One cup of cubed jicama contains only 45 calories. It has a mellow, sweet flavor and is usually eaten raw and paired with lemon or lime juice, chili powder, cilantro, ginger or red onion. It is also common in Asian dishes. It gets it's sweet flavor from a prebiotic called oligofructose inulin. 

Jicama can be stored dry for 1-2 months at 53°- 60°F and will last for a few days in the refrigerator after being peeled. When choosing jicama, select roots that are roughly 3-4 lbs as larger roots can be woody.

During the Ultimate Reset, jicama turned up in almost all of the salad recipes as a diced vegetable, and also in one of my favorite recipes, the Jicama Avocado Salad from Day 20's lunch. However you decide to pronounce it, I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I did!

Jicama Avocado Salad

1/2 tsp Himalayan salt
1 Tbsp agave nectar
juice of 1 lime
1 1/2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 avocado, ripe but firm, cut into chunks
1/2 medium jicama root, peeled and sliced into thin matchsticks (I cubed it instead)
2 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro

Mix all ingredients and let marinate in the refrigerator for 1 hour. Serve over 3 cups of salad greens.
Serves 1.