Posts Tagged ‘Cheat Meal’

The Healthy Potatoes

Posted: August 2, 2013 in Challenge, Food, Ramadan
Tags: , , , , , ,
5

Another little side dish I can’t say no to is sweet potatoes. I love everything about them from their taste to how easy they are to prepare. Like almond flour, they are used as substitutes for a number of Paleo friendly dishes. They contain many of the vitamins and nutrients that we need on a daily basis including ones that keep us energetic. Best part about preparing them is that you don’t have to do much, you can bake, fry, steam, or roast them with minimal additional ingredients. Next time you are out and you really have to have fries, make them sweet potato fries.

For Sahoor

Since I’m on an egg hiatus, I’m moving on to one of my favorites (after avocados) meal additions. For Sahoor I turned to sweet potatoes. I took two sweet potatoes, skinned them, cut them into pieces and place them in boiling water. I put a lid over the pot and let it broil until the the potato pieces got soft. I then drained the water and mashed them up. I squeezed half a lemon into it and added about 1/2 tsp of chaat masala. It was more than enough to fill me up.

20130801_042416

Workout of the Day

I decided to take on this stupid ab challenge I saw on Facebook. It’s basically a series of ab exercises that increase in length and difficulty over the course of 30 days. Here is day 1:

  • 15 situps
  • 5 crunches
  • 10 second plank
For Iftar

This was a cheat meal. Honestly I ran out of time to make anything. It’s funny how I’m off from work yet a million things have found their way into my schedule. Well I guess a certain large purchase is keeping me busy. Anyways. The cheat meal as usual is my secret. This should be the last one until Eid, inshAllah.

Speaking of Eid, it’s just around the corner! Less than a week! Do you have your fancy clothes ready? Not sure if I’m going to wear something traditional or a suit this year. Whatever is clean I guess.

Pay to Play

Posted: July 27, 2013 in Challenge, Food, Ramadan
Tags: , , ,
0

So I know I’ve missed a couple of days worth of posts here so I’m going to combine those two into one. Nothing too exciting happened except I started getting sick of eggs and I ate out successfully.

For Sahoor

On both Wednesday and Thursday I had an omelette. It tastes just as repetitive as it sounds. I did switch it up a little bit on Thursday by only putting in one whole egg and 5 egg whites. It’s really not helping. After Friday I am off till Eid so I will have some time for better Sahoor meals. It’s about time. I’m starting to get a list of stuff I plan on making so be on the lookout for that!

For Iftar

Wednesday was a cheat meal. I wasn’t in the mood to cook and I had dinner with the family. The cheat meal came sooner than I wanted after my previous cheat meal but that just means I won’t have another one for a while. This one was with my favorite bad food so I may have gone pretty close to the border of overboard. It didn’t derail me though so I think I’m ok.

On Thursday I had a friend’s birthday dinner to go to so Iftar was done at a restaurant. I touched on eating out last year as I had to do it while I was traveling and not much of my advice has changed. If you can, look at the menu ahead of time. Find what looks to be healthy and compliant with your diet. Now this doesn’t mean go to the salad section and hate your life. You can still enjoy something that tastes good but you have to do your homework. Prepare questions for the waiter regarding the meal. Ask them what’s in it, how they cook it, and what kind of quality the meat is. Don’t shy out!! You have every right to know what’s going into your stomach so exercise it. Generally speaking, go for the grilled section but be careful with everything it might be cooked in or comes with. Also, don’t be afraid to ask for substitutes. If the meal looks good but comes with fries, ask them to sub it for fruit or a vegetable. I found that most places are willing to accommodate these requests and a lot of times without charging extra. Be in control!
20130725_211108 20130725_213246

I had looked at the menu ahead of time so I knew what to get. A little Google help and you can see what goes into the grilled salmon that I went with. It was lightly marinated with salt and pepper and some lemon. It was grilled and served with shredded squash. I had a side of salad with guacamole as well.

Workout of (that) day

5 rounds
30 Second Max Effort Air Squats
Rest 30 Seconds
30 Second Max Effort  Kettlebell swings 53#
Rest 30 Seconds
30 Second Max Effort Hand Release Push Ups
Rest 30 Seconds

Sadly, eating healthy isn’t cheap, especially when eating out. However in the long run, I’d rather pay the price at the meal table than at the doctors table.

Cheat Meal

Posted: July 20, 2013 in Challenge, Ramadan
Tags:
0

Today I utilized my first cheat meal card for my Ramadan Challenge. I made it to day 12 this year without needing to have one which makes me happy. I really haven’t missed anything or craved anything outside of what I’ve been cooking. I thought for sure this year I would utilize my cheat card a lot sooner since my nutrition has been so bad leading up to Ramadan. Even today, I really didn’t have to use it but my sister was in town and it was her birthday so we decided to enjoy it with some bad food. Worth it? eh, I didn’t go overboard like I did with some of my cheat meals last year so I would say it was worth it, especially since it was for a family member.

Last year I went over what cheat meals  were and why we do them but for the new readers, I’ll touch on it again. Cheat meal is something to stick into your routine once in a while (once…in…a..while..) to refresh yourself with the “outside world”. It takes some pressure off, let’s you cut loose, and more often than not, grosses you out and reminds you why you are eating clean in the first place. That last part is essential. I am not proud to say that I have had plenty of cheat meals over the past couple of years that have turned into cheat months. Enjoy the cheat meal, but be responsible and keep your long term goals in mind. For more details, click the Cheat Meals tag at the beginning of this post to see more entries regarding the subject.

For Sahoor

Nothing special, same omelette with 2 eggs/4 egg whites with banana and some almonds. I hydrated myself up because I knew I had a long day out of the house.

For Iftar

This was my cheat meal and as always, it’s my dirty little secret so I won’t get into what I ate. I will say though that I showed control and really didn’t go overboard. I did enjoy a piece of food that starts with a c and rhymes with fake and my dinner also included some fried carbs from the eastern Asian influence. No soda or overflowing portions though.

It was ok but I didn’t feel like this was something I had to have done today. It was a good break from cooking but I’m ready to be back at it tomorrow!

Oxymoron Bites

Posted: July 29, 2012 in Food
Tags: , , ,
3

Today I’m going to try out what I call oxymoron bites. Oxymoron because they will be things like “Good for you pancakes” (huh?) and “healthy muffins” (seriously?). I want to show that eating healthy doesn’t mean you have to munch on lettuce and dry meat all day. You can still have all the tasty snacks and dishes you normally crave but you just have to find some alternative ingredients. The goal is to have those dishes be healthy but still taste great so you stay motivated doing this. This should be interesting.

Oh but first, I want to talk about my cheat meal night. I knew it was too good to be true. I should have just stuck with what I was doing. The dish I ordered ended up being over a pound of cheese wrapped in bread. Who eats this stuff?? Barf. Needless to say, after eating clean for over a week straight, it’s hard for your stomach to process that or much less even desire it. Sadly, my 2 other Paleo friends who ordered the same thing and myself, took a few bites and left the place hungry. Oh well, lesson learned!

Now back to the present. For Sahoor this morning I made banana almond pancakes:

2 bananas
2 Tbs almond butter
1 egg
2 Tbs coconut shreddings
1 Tbs coconut oil
Blueberries

Put the bananas and almond butter in a bowl and start smashing/mixing. Add in the egg and coconut shredding and stir it up until it’s a fine mixture. Heat up a non-stick pan and put a little bit of coconut oil in it. I recommend keeping the stove on a lower setting because they do cook fast.

My trick for making pancakes is that I put the batter into a measuring cup so I can pour evenly using the spout. Pour the mixture into the pan making a circle no bigger than 3-4″. I say that size because the bigger the size, the harder it is to flip. I have no trick for flipping and you will see my sad attempts at flipping shortly. Once the batter starts cooking, add in the blueberries to one side of the pancake. When the edges start turning golden, it’s time to flip. Once they are flipped, let them cook until the backside gets to the darkness level you prefer and take them off.

Flipping was an epic fail but the taste was amazing. I honestly think they tasted better than regular pancakes and I didn’t even need butter or syrup! Here is how they looked:

image

So there you have it, “healthy pancakes”. Don’t tell me your sweet tooth cravings are what’s keeping you from eating healthy! More to come later today!

Sleep, Eat, Sleep, Cheat

Posted: July 28, 2012 in Food
Tags: , ,
2

Ah, a weekend. That means one glorious thing. I get to sleep in!! I woke up for Sahoor with just enough time to get something together and eat. Rest assured it was done with only one eye open. I ate, did my morning prayers, and was back to bed in no time. I didn’t even give my self the opportunity to take a picture of the food.

This morning’s sahoor was a pretty simple one. I made an omlette with 2 eggs and 3 egg whites. I added onions, tomatoes, sea salt, and chili powder to it and cooked it with extra virgin olive oil. I had some left over chicken from last night so I added that to my plate as well. I washed it down with a liter or so of water.  Simple, quick, and did the job. Some guac would have made it perfect but I used the last of it last night.

Cheat Meal

I mentioned something about a cheat meal a few days ago and tonight I’ve decided to take one. You should allow yourself a cheat meal once in a while as a reward or to tame those one off cravings. Some people have a “3 cheat meals a week” plan, others like myself save it for outings or when I need a break. I’ve gone over a week being fairly strict with Paleo so I’ve decided tonight will be a cheat night for me. I find it important to take a cheat meal once in a while when taking on a dietary lifestyle change like this one. If you go too strict for a long period of time, you could find yourself breaking down one day and binging on ice cream and soda for 4 days straight. I have plans to have dinner with friends at a local resturant tonight for Iftar. Oh and I won’t be posting what I eat because, well, it will be my dirty little secret.

I think this cheat meal, sleeping in, and rest day from working out are the ingredients I need to get back on my game plan.

Workout of the Day = Rest