What Does Eating Clean Mean?

Eating clean (EC) means staying away from highly processed foods such as desserts, candy, pop, and breads. Eating clean is going back to the basics from a long time ago.  EC will give you the healthiest options, most nutrients and energy as well as prevent horrible things such as diabetes and cancer. If you are feeling tired, have gained weight or have any other uncomfortable symptoms (such as bloating, irritable bowel, headaches, irritability) it could very well be your diet and eating too many processed foods.

When you first start to eat clean you may initially feel more tired or sick because your body is used to running on a bunch of sugar, fats, and caffeine. So, it is important to give it time. Some people can comfortably quit bad habits (such as drinking diet pop) cold turkey while others have to wean themselves off of it. For example, if you currently drink one can of pop a day then you can probably quit cold turkey. However, if you drink three or more cans of pop a day you should gradually reduce the amount of cans you drink each week.

Every time you put food in your mouth you should ask yourself "Does this have nutritional value?" You need to eat to live, not live to eat. Eating is providing  fuel for your body not a mood pick me up, hobby or activity. We (Americans) have turned eating into a social activity and a high or addiction. We need to change the way we think about food.

It may take a while to break your addiction to food. But, I promise you that over time healthy foods will be more appealing and processed foods will not be. I can speak from example. I used to drink up to nine cans of mountain dew a day and now I can't even bare to drink one can! This will need to be a lifestyle change, a process, and a journey. Don't give up!

Here are some ways to determine if food is clean or processed:

Processed: It has an expiration date, comes in a package or box

Clean: You can grow it in a garden or it was derived naturally from the ground or a seed

Tip: Shop on the outside of the grocery store in the produce aisles. The inside aisles have all of the processed foods.

Tip: Check the ingredients list: If it has a ton of ingredients don't buy it.  If it contains words in the list that you cannot pronounce, don't buy it.  If an ingredient ends  in -ose it is most likely some form of sugar, don't buy it.

Chocolate Shakeology Lava Cake in a Coffee Mug Recipe

Chocolate Shakeology Lava Cake

Ok, here is a super easy and simple recipe for Chocolate Shakeology Lava Cake in a Coffee Mug, in the microwave, in just over a minutes time.

Ingredients:

1 Egg

1 Banana

1 Scoop of Chocolate Shakeology (Vegan or Regular)

Procedure:

Step 1: Blend all 3 ingredients in a Blender, Magic Bullet, Nutri Bullet, Ninja....(whatever you have)  You don't have to blend for very long, maybe 20-30 seconds.  Just enough so that the banana is crunched up.

Step 2: Scoop out the blended mixture and put into a coffee mug.  (You don't want to fill the mug all the way to the top, leave some room and make sure the mug you choose is big enough to allow for some expanding when you cook)

Step 3: Microwave for 1 minute 11 seconds (just hit the 1 button 3 times)

Voila!  A delicious healthy snack that will definitely stave off your chocolate cravings. (It Tastes A Lot better than it looks in this picture, trust me)

 

*BONUS TIP

Step 4: Add a scoop of Crunchy Peanut Butter after you remove it from the microwave.

 

If you are interested in trying Shakeology please contact me for a free sample.

Sweet Potato Chocolate Chip Cookies

Sweet Potato Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 1/4 cups roasted, cooled, mashed sweet potatoes (from 1 large or 2 small)
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
2 eggs
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/3 cups wheat flour
1 cup oats
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

In a large mixing bowl, beat the sweet potatoes and butter together until smooth. Add the eggs and beat again. Stir in the brown sugar, maple syrup and vanilla.


In another bowl, stir together the oat flour, almond flour, baking soda, baking powder and kosher salt. Add this dry mix to the wet mix and gently stir together. Add the chocolate chips and stir just until mixed.

Preheat the oven 375 degrees. Drop large rounded scoops of dough onto the pan.  Bake for 12-15 minutes, until puffed and lightly brown. Let cool for 10 minutes.

 



 

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How to Create a Healthy Eater-Teaching Your Child to Eat Healthy

Teaching Your Child to Eat Healthy

 

Ideas for Parents with Toddlers

I am learning that it is so difficult to feed a toddler. They are so picky and what they may love to eat one day the next they despise. So, when you are trying to feed them healthy foods it can really narrow down your options and in turn make the process seem that much more difficult. However, I think that as a parent it is our responsibility to teach our child good, healthy eating habits. This is one area that I don't want to grow lazy or passive in. I am already seeing at such a young age how exposed our kids are to bad choices. I know that I can't control everything that gets handed to her and what she eats. But, I can control what I give her. So, I think that if I feed her well the 80% she is with me then I won't feel as bad and it won't be as bad for her if she does eat bad on an occasion (like a birthday party or holiday).

It is hard to think of options that are "healthy" and creative. Especially if we weren't raised on those types of foods ourselves. There are so many great blogs and websites out there to provide suggestions and recipes.

Here is a sample of a menu that I use:

• Breakfast- Yo Toddlers Organic Yogurt with some fruit (she LOVES strawberries and bananas)


• Mid morning snack-Toddler Cereal Bar, another piece of fruit, or a homemade blueberry muffins (grammy is good at making these)


• Lunch-Scrambled Eggs and a pouch of organic baby food


• Mid-Day Snack-Cut up cheese and whole wheat crackers (or crackers with a little bit of peanut butter)


• Dinner-Sweet Potatoe/apple/carrot blend


• Bed-time Snack-Cut up Avocado

Don't assume that your child won't eat certain things just because they are healthy or you don't like them. I can't believe some of the things that Mayda eats that I would think would taste disgusting (for example Spinach with pears). That girls loves avocados plain with nothing on them. I recommend offering something healthy numerous times and try different ways of serving them. Sometimes I can put cinnamon on something and she will immediately like it when she didn't before.

Toddlers don't know yet what foods are healthy or not. Don't plant ideas in their head and create certain associations with foods that aren't necessary. If you really talk up ice cream and act like "yummm ice crream" with a glisten in your eye of course they will want some. You could do this same thing with healthier options. Again, when I give Mayda an avocado she acts like it is the tastiest food ever. We are setting the example for our children.

Plan ahead and always have healthy options on hand. Here is my favorite recipe I concocted for Mayda. I love this because you can make a big batch for the week ahead of time and pull out of fridge when needed.

 

 Steamed Sweet Potatoes/Apples/Carrots

Ingredients-2 medium sized sweet potatoes or yams, four carrots, two-three apples, cinnamon

1. Peel Potatoes, Apples and Carrots

2. Cuts into small, bite sized cubes

3.  Place in steamer pot and Sprinkle Cinnamon on top, mix and sprinkle more cinnamon

4. Cook until soft and easy for a toddler to chew (I use a boiling pot of water with a steamer that sits on top-usually takes about 45 minutes to cook)

5. Place in small containers and store in fridge

*I love this recipe because it is a good blend of healthy foods and tasty ones too! :)

 You can also make a version of this for yourself and the rest of the family. We cut the peeled carrots, apples, and sweet potatoes into wedges (like french fries) and sprinkle with cinnamon and olive oil and we bake in oven at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes (until crispy and a little brown). This is a great snack alternative!

 

 

 

 

Almost Vegan Cheesy Potatoes Recipe

I am not much of a cook. However, I do have a few staple foods that I get the most compliments on and one of them is my cheesy potatoes. Unfortunately my potatoes are not vegetarian or vegan friendly (they include lots of dairy, processed food and cream of chicken soup). So, I went on a quest for a vegan friendly recipe and I fell a little short. I am sharing my vegetarian friendly recipe and my idea of how to make it vegan (I need to try option number two still myself!) Someone out there might have a better idea (if so I would love to hear) but until this I hope you enjoy this recipe!



Vegetarian/Almost Vegan Cheesy Potatoes Recipe

Ingredients:

2 packages of Alexia's Frozen organic hash browns

One bag of "Go Veggie" shredded cheese (you may want to use two bags depending on how cheesy you want them)

1 can "Amy's" Organic Cream of Mushroom soup (the soup contains cream/milk which prevents it from being vegan-however, there are vegan recipes out there if you want to make your own version of mushroom soup without dairy)

1 package Toffuti Sour cream

two cups corn flakes (you can use crackers instead)

a stick of butter (again-prevents it from being vegan but there are butter substitutes out there to use)

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees, I layer the ingredients twice in a pan (put hashbrowns down, spread half of the sour cream and mushroom soup on top and then sprinkle with cheese, repeat)

Melt butter and in a large cup I put the corn flakes and melted butter and use a fork to crush and mix them up-the then spread on the top layer

Bake at 375 for about 40 minutes (may be done a little sooner or longer-you will be able to tell when it is bubbly and warm-just keep your eye on the cornflakes so they don't burn!)

One thing I do want to note-a lot of the ingredients that are dairy substitutes contain processed soy (soy protein, soy milk, soy isolate) which isn't a great alternative but if you can't have dairy it isn't too bad of a replacement-I don't think the normal recipe for cheesy potatoes or this recipe are exactly "healthy" :)

I would love to hear your ideas in the comments section on how to modify this recipe in order to make it vegan.

VEGAN BANANA OATMEAL PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES

 

These things are great.  They are from Rip Esselstyn's new book "My Beef with Meat"  My wife and I have been slowly trying to eat more of a plant based/vegan diet.  We watched Rip's documentary "The Engine 2 Kitchen Rescue" on Amazon Streaming, and he totally convinced us that we need to eat more of a plant based diet. So,we found this recipe on his website and made them today. They were super easy to make and I devoured them very fast because they were delicious.

 

Here is the Recipe.

 

Ingredients

3 ripe bananas, mashed
1 tablespoon vanilla
¾ cup natural chunky peanut butter
3 tablespoons maple syrup
2 cups old fashioned oats
½ cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt (optional)
½ cup non-dairy chocolate chips or raisins

*to make gluten free eliminate whole wheat flour

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Prepare a cookie sheet with parchment paper

Mix bananas, vanilla, peanut butter and maple syrup into a creamy consistency in a large bowl

In another bowl, combine oats, flour, baking powder and salt

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until they are well combined -the batter should be slightly sticky

Fold in the chocolate chips or raisins

Place rounded, heaping tablespoon-sized balls of the batter onto an ungreased baking sheet

Bake for 15-18 minutes

 

-Here is what one of ours turned out like-



They are Fantastic while they are still warm but really good after they have cooled off a little bit too.

The Original Recipe link can be found here.

Chia Seed Breakfast Bowl

This is a good recipe to use to make a Chia Seed Breakfast Bowl. I found the original recipe here and modified it to my own liking. Obviously mine didn't turn out as pretty, but it still tasted pretty darn good.


Yield: 2 servings
Ingredients:
Chia mixture
4 tbsp chia seeds
1 – 1.25 cups almond milk (it’s great made with Homemade Almond Milk)
2 small bananas, chopped small
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
two pinches of cinnamon

Toppings:
Couple pinches of cinnamon
Raw Organic Honey

1. Mash bananas in a medium-sized bowl. Stir in chia seeds. Whisk in the almond milk, vanilla, and cinnamon until combined. Place in fridge overnight to thicken.

3. In the morning, place your desired amount of chia pudding into a bowl. (Note: at this point, you can blend your chia pudding if a smooth texture is desired, but I don’t bother). You can add more almond milk if you want to thin it out in the morning. Or, if it’s too thin, add more chia seeds to thicken it up. Add a pinch of cinnamon and drizzle Raw Organic Honey on top to serve.

Healthy Brownies-They Do Exist

Here is a picture of the Healthy Brownies that my wife made today.  They are pretty awesome and Super Easy to make.  Here's the thing, they are made with Black Beans and Pumpkin....I know right?  Sounds crazy but they taste just like normal brownies.

Here is the recipe she followed.  It is from Sagi Kalev.  The body building trainer that created the awesome workout Body Beast that I am going to be starting soon.

If you are interested in more information about Body Beast Check out this video.

See all of the BODY BEAST Related Equipment Here.To order the BODY BEAST program Click Here.

As always if you need help with your fitness journey and would like free coaching Click Here to make me your coach for free.

Make sure to like Haywood Fitness on Facebook.

Seasonal Shakeology Recipes

Check out these delicious Seasonal Shakeology recipes.  They are great, my favorite is the pumpkin pie one.  If you would like more info on shakeology visit myshakeology.com/dustinhaywood

 

No Bake Energy Bites

I usually spend Sundays preparing some healthy snacks for the week. If I am not armed with healthy snacks I end up eating whatever is in front of me. Today I cut-up some strawberries and added some blueberries and raspberries into small containers to take to work this week. I also made some Shakeology Protein Bites.   My husband loves them and has already eaten half of the batch. If you would like to make them check this out!

No Bake Energy Bites:
1 Cup Oatmeal (I used steal cut oats)
1/2 cup peanut butter (I like to use crunchy)
1/3 Cup Honey
1 cup coconut flakes (I leave these out)
1/2 cup ground flaxseed
1 scoop Chocoloate Shakeoogy
1 twp vanilla

Mix all together in a bowel and form into balls and store and chill in the fridge.

 

Delicious No Bake Energy Bites

My wife made the best tasting no bake energy bites recently. They are super easy to make and taste great.

Here is our recipe:

1 cup Steel cut oats (or oatmeal)
1/2 cup Peanut Butter
1/3 cup Honey
1/2 cup ground flaxseed
1 scoop Chocolate Shakeology
1 tsp vanilla

Mix together in a large bowl & Form into balls

Store in Fridge or Freezer.

Once you have made them into balls you can eat them right away (like I do) or you can let them set in the fridge or freezer.

They are delicious and super healthy.  I love to just grab a few for a snack or as pre-workout fuel.

Check out My wife Megan's blog by clicking below.