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! 

Wow! This past week has flown by! This past Sunday I started a brand new program called the 21-Day Fix. For those that don't know, the 21-Day Fix is a 21 day fitness and nutrition program that focuses on portion control to help people learn how to eat clean, lose weight and build lean muscle. Some of the results coming out of the Test Groups have been amazing! People are losing an average of 10-15 lbs in 21 days, and there are several people who have done multiple rounds and have lost over 100 lbs!! 

I know that a lot of people who follow my journey are vegan like myself, so I am so excited to share with you how I put together my meals every day!  

The meal plan is sooo easy to follow. It gives you calculations to figure out how many of each color container you get to eat in a day. Each color represents a different category of food. There is also a category which uses a teaspoon (which is not included in the package, but hey, who doesn't own a teaspoon?) Basically, you pick a food from the provided list, and if it fits, you eat it! The meal plan also includes a couple "Zings", or "cheats", which allow you to have chocolate, cookies and even wine while on the plan. The containers LOOK much smaller than they are. Once you add the food and get them arranged on a plate, you find that they actually hold quite a bit of food!

The fitness plan includes 8 workouts which range from cardio, cardio with weights, upper body, lower body, yoga, abs, pilates, and even one called Dirty 30, a 30-minute total body workout. All workouts are 30 minutes in length, with the exception of the ab workout, which is 10 minutes.  I got a little carried away at first when I saw there was a doubles schedule (two workouts a day) and it wasn't until day 3 that I noticed that the doubles schedule was actually only for week 3. (Oops! I'm leaving for a Beachbody cruise in 6 weeks so I have abs on the brain!) Thankfully that same day I found out that if you're already used to working out, that you can start the doubles week from day 1. You would just need to readjust the amount of each color you get in a day (and it tells you exactly how to do that. Simple!) 

Below is a list of all of the vegan options for each color container. So many choices! For non-vegans following the plan, your red category is much larger, and there are a couple additional items in the blue category. Paleos, your yellow category would need to be adjusted (I think, I honestly don't know much about Paleo eating). 

And THIS is everything I was eating during week 1! I've color coded everything to correspond with the color of container to make it easier on you. Just a disclaimer: I eat weird. Even before I was vegan, I was totally ok with eating the same foods and eating them in strange combinations. You could totally put these together using recipes and make some amazing meals out of them if you're into that kind of thing. I promise I'll work on doing more of a variety (stay tuned next week for my sushi I made today!), but for right now, it's a lot of smoothies and stir fry's. Nice and simple!

I use both vegan chocolate and vegan tropical Shakeology. If I'm making a smoothie I'm more likely to use tropical, and if I'm just mixing it with water, I almost always use chocolate. And I use a variety of protein powders. This week I rotated between chocolate Vega Sport Recovery Protein and chocolate Sun Warrior raw protein blend. 

And here are my results so far! After week 1 I am down 1.4 lbs! It may not SEEM like a lot, but I FEEL much lighter, more toned, and holy abs batman! I swear, Autumn (the trainer) adds an ab workout on to everything. I don't think I've ever done this many planks in my life! But I'm definitely not complaining, just getting me closer to my goal of having abs by my 35th birthday! 

For this next week, I'm going to reevaluate my calories and bump myself up to the next calorie range, so I'll be getting a few more color containers each day.  I'm also going to experiment more with different recipes, including the salad dressing recipes that come with the plan. 

I'm going to be putting together an accountability group for others who are interested in doing the 21-Day Fix themselves. It's a small, private facebook group where I'll post daily posts to help keep everyone on track for the 21 days. My first group is set to officially kick off tomorrow and SOLD OUT in only 3 days! If you'd like to be in my next 21-Day Fix accountability group, please fill out this form and I'll get back to you asap! 

If you have any questions about the 21-Day Fix, it's workouts, meal plan or results you can expect, post them in the comments below or message me on facebook! 

I get asked this question a lot by people who are looking to start juicing, "What kind of juicer should I get?" First let me say that juicing and blending (smoothies) is different. There are pros and cons of each, I'll let you do your own research on that. But if you've decided to try juicing, this is the place to be! :) 

There are two basic categories of juicers, centrifugal and masticating. Deciding what kind of juicer to get depends a lot on what you'll be juicing. Questions to ask yourself are:

• Will I be juicing leafy greens? Wheatgrass?
• How important is time? How fast do I want my juicer to juice?
• How much time do I want to spend on prep work? Cleaning?
• How much money do I want to spend? 

Centrifugal juicers are great for people who are new to juicing. They're faster to juice, faster to clean, less expensive, and require less prep work. The opening shoot is larger so you can often fit an entire apple in it without having to cut it into smaller pieces first. They are great for harder produce like apples, carrots and beets, but they don't juice leafy greens as well. One way to juice leafy greens in a centrifugal juicer is to compact them into a tight ball, and add them between hard foods like apples and carrots. Juicing oranges and other soft produce can often create a lot of foam in your juice. It's also believed there is more nutrient loss with centrifugal juicers because of the grating action and high speed of spinning that occurs.

Masticating juicers have a much smaller opening, so food will need to be cut into smaller pieces before juicing. They're also much slower to produce juice, but can often produce more juice for the same amount of produce. They are great for juicing oranges and other citrus as well as leafy greens including wheatgrass. If you are planning on juicing wheatgrass, you can also get a hand crank wheatgrass juicer pretty inexpensive. 

Whether you choose a masticating or centrifugal juicer, one thing I like to do to get more juice is to run the pulp through the juicer once. For a centrifugal juicer, you can just ball up the pulp and run it back through the juicer, and for a masticating juicer I just send it back through the shoot. This doesn't work for wheatgrass juice, though, because wheatgrass pulp comes out pretty dry the first time through. I compost my pulp, but there are also recipes online to make raw, dehydrated crackers out of them, too. 

These are the three juicers that we have. I use our centrifugal juicer more because of the speed, and Scott uses our masticating juicer more because of the benefits. All orange juice is made in our masticating juicer, too, including our Nature's Kool Aid juice. 

Happy juicing! :) 

Fall is in the air and that means one thing... FIGS are in season! Figs are a power packed little fruit, containing fiber, calcium & iron, Vitamins A, E & K and antioxidants and they also help lower blood sugar. Today's Meat Free Monday recipe was inspired and adapted from the cookbook The Vegan Table by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau. We paired her Braised Figs with Arugula salad with some simple portabello mushroom caps. 

Braised Figs with Arugula salad

1 Tbsp non-dairy butter (such as Earth Balance)
1 tsp granulated sugar
10-12 figs, halved, stems removed
4-5 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 bunch baby arugula (we actually each get our own container!)
1 Tbsp olive oil
juice from 1 lemon
salt & pepper

In large saute pan, melt butter and sugar. Place figs face down in pan and cook for 3-5 min. over med-high heat. Remove from heat and pace figs on plate, face up. (Depending on your dietary concerns, the non-dairy butter and sugar could be omitted,)

In the same skillet, heat balsamic vinegar until bubbly, then reduce heat and simmer 4-5 min. until vinegar is reduced by half. Remove from heat.

In a bowl, toss arugula with olive oil and lemon juice to coat. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Heap arugula on plate, arrange figs over top and drizzle with the balsamic reduction.

Portabello Mushroom Caps

6 small or 3 large portabello mushroom caps
Brags liquid amino acids
onion powder
garlic powder

Remove stems and underside of mushrooms. Cook all ingredients in a skillet over med-high heat about 6-10 min, flipping the mushroom caps half way through cooking. Large mushroom caps can be left whole, or sliced before cooking. 

If you try this recipe be sure to comment below and let us know what you thought! 

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

It's that time of year again... Pumpkin EVERYTHING!!! The only problem with that is... it ends up making you look like a pumpkin! :0 

Don't spend this winter hiding behind big sweaters. Make this the winter you TAKE CONTROL of your nutrition, even through the holidays! I know this time of year is busy, but that doesn't mean you have to sit back and let your health spin out of control. 

Nothing is faster or quicker (or healthier!) to make and eat than a green smoothie, so I'm going to be offering a 15-day green smoothie challenge to help you stay on track! All you'l need to do is replace one meal a day with a green smoothie made with Shakeology (the meal replacement I use every day). There are 5 delicious flavors to choose from. You can do any workout you like (or none if you're not at that point in your journey yet). I'll be providing more than enough recipes and support along the way! 

How amazing are you going to feel when you don't have to worry about losing your "winter weight" in the spring!?!?!

And a BONUS... I usually cap my groups at a certain # to keep them small, but this one is going to be open to EVERYONE! So grab your friends and let's get healthy this fall!!! And since each bag of Shakeology comes with a 30-day supply, this would also be a great time to inspire a friend and split the bag, but beware, once you try Shakeology, you won't want to share it with anyone! 

The 15-day green smoothie challenge officially kicks off Oct. 19th, so you only have until this Saturday, Oct. 12th to order your Shakeology so you have it in time! (And my little secret, be sure to choose the "auto ship" option when you order. That way you'll get free shipping and you can cancel it at any time!) 

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.

Everyone's heard of the Master Cleanse where you drink nothing but water with cayenne pepper and maple syrup, or the Cabbage Soup Diet or the juice fast or all the others on the market so it's not surprising that the #1 question I was getting asked while doing the Ultimate Reset was, "So what are you eating?" Well, here's the answer!