Glutten Free Waffles - The Healthy Alternative

Day 7 of Tony's Eating Clean Challenge has began! I have nothing but praises for Tony's simple genius - when he tells you you are going to "feel better than you ever have in your life," be certain, without any doubt, the man is not lying to you! I feel absolutely AMAZING! My sleep has improved tremendously. I have more energy and I am just an all around happier person. No aches, no sluggish mornings, just a spring in my step that I haven't seen in a very long time!

Now my husband has weathered these last 7 days with me. I have heard minimal grumblings, but he has confessed to visit the "Golden Arches" a time or two. Even my girlfriend caught him in the act. No worries, the diet is very restrictive and we are all human. In the words of Mark Briggs, "Its really about finding healthy alternatives, and working them into your daily routine. Finding things that you can live with for a lifetime, and no going to far ends of extreme that you can do on a temporary basis." I'm not sure I would recommend my husband's retreat, but I certainly understand it is about finding healthy alternatives for the foods we enjoy. I'm learning everyday just how many alternatives are available. That said, here is my solution for the waffle lover. This recipe does include eggs. I'm sure you could use an egg substitute and make it Challenge Fine, but for me, this makes about 14 small waffles - so 1/7 of an egg for two waffles I don't think was a major detour! Enjoy =)

Bradley's Gluten Free Waffles

•  2 eggs, beaten
• 1 3/4 cups Sugar Free Almond milk
• 1/4 cup Canola oil
• 1/2 cup Honey
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 cups Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free (Wheat Free*Dairy Free) All Purpose Baking Flour
• 1/2 quick oats
• 1/4 cup ground flax seed mill
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt 

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, almond milk, oil, honey, and vanilla. Beat in gluten free flour, flax seed meal, quick oats, baking powder and salt until batter is smooth. Preheat a waffle iron and coat with cooking spray. Pour batter onto waffle iron and cook until crisp and golden brown. I usually watch for the steam test. When the steam ceases coming from the sides, they are nice and perfectly crisp!

This is our solution for a healthy breakfast. We served the waffles with Agave nectar and fresh strawberries and cantalope. There are alternatives to be found, you just have to be willing to experiment. You just might surprise yourself how much you like what you find. This will definitely be a new favorite at our home.

7 days down 7 days to GO!!! Life is Good!

The Benefits are in Eating Clean

Day 4 with the Eating Challenge still has me moving forward. I tell you what, I have slept better than I ever have. And I am so much more alert. I will credit the diet for my strides in becoming more sound mentally! I did have to add back in the P90X Recovery Formula! I just needed a little energy boost because of the doubles. That takes a lot out of you, even without all the diet restrictions. The Recovery Formula has always worked well for me. I don't think using it on my heavy cardio workouts like the Plyo is going to be a huge sin. I just need it! And I like it. I've always used it at just one scoop. One of those containers goes A LONG LONG way, especially one scoop at a time. It just always helps me recover quickly.

Last night I made a homemade vegetable stew! OMG! It was fabulous!!! I love stew anyway, this was just the meatless variety. I actually threw in some Lima beans. My husband hates them, but didn't even realize they were in there and he ate 4 huge bowls of the stuff!!! And it was just fresh veggies cooked to perfection!!! He took 2 large containers in his lunch today. I also found some Almond Milk last night. Icy cold it taste pretty similar to milk, except it smells like almonds. It is sugarfree, so I can fake myself out a little here. There are always solutions...sometimes you just got look for them.

Yesterday was Plyometrics in the AM! 177 HRM!!! YAY ME!! In the evening I was back to Shoulders & Arms! I love this workout. I did really good and increased reps on a lot of the exercises. I even got up to 18 Side Tri Rises and my Crouching Cohen Curls were all supersets!!! YAY ME! Life is good!!!

This summertime will be FABULOUS as I am running the beaches...bikini fine!!!

Onward with the Eating Clean Challenge

I survived Day 2 of the challenge. It really isn't as hard as I had thought it was going to be. I found some rice spaghetti at the local grocery store that was gluten and dairy free. We had that with a sugar-free tomato basil sauce, complete with an Asian salad with fresh Roma tomatoes and a red pepper vinaigrette. It was very yummy. My little guy missed the meat in his sauce, but actually ate quite well. He even tried some carrots and tomatoes! WOW! This might be a good change for our family. I also started the doubles. The morning was CardioX 5 AM wake-up call. This is really a doable workout for the extra routine. It is a combination of Yoga, Kenpo, Plyo and Core rolled into about 45 minutes. So not a bad way to start the morning. Then when I got home, I met up with the girlfriend and we made our 2 mile walk. Afterwards I came home, made dinner, ate and it was back downstairs for round 2 with Chest and Back with a little Ab Ripper X. Let's just say by the end of my day I was pretty much "toasty toast". So sleep for me was not a problem. Now here I am on Day 3. Breakfast usually starts off the Oatmeal and Agave. Today I threw in some chopped banana. Good choice. I had roasted almonds for a snack and lunch was a fresh spinach salad with Cranberry Walnut vinaigrette. This was a good dressing, but watch out...it is a bit on the tart side. At least the diet is proving to me there are other dressings outside of everyone's favorite, RANCH. My choices now are healthier. Hopefully that means a happier, healthier me! For dinner tonight I made this great little Black Bean recipe that you eat over brown rice. It was very filling and we had enough leftovers that being creative for lunch tomorrow won't be a problem. Three days down and only eleven more to go. I have to admit the dairy and meat thing are really hard. I miss my glass of skim milk in the mornings with my oatmeal. I'm tempted to try one of the Soy milks, but for right now I've been doing a glass of green tea.  CardioX this AM and didn't get to the Plyometrics this evening. One of life's little crisis came up and family always comes first. No worries. I will be back at it tomorrow. Slight altercation in plans. Looks like Plyometrics in the AM and Shoulders & Arms with Ab Ripper X in the PM. It's doable. Here is a picture of my husband doing Plyometrics. Yes this one is definitely the golden ticket to a better YOU!!!

Beginning Tony Horton's Eating Challenge

Today was, to coin the phrase, a little different. I started my morning with the normal oatmeal. Only difference is I didn't give in to my favorite temptation of allowing myself 1 teaspoon of sugar. If I am going to be doing this the right way, I have to follow the program. So "buh-bye" sugar. I actually picked up some Agave at Wal-Mart. If you have never had this stuff, you have to try it. It is all natural nectar from the agave plant. It looks a little like syrup, not quite as thick as honey, but still just enough sweetness. This is my oatmeal's new best friend. And yes, Tony did say it was okay!

Lunch was a bit of a challenge. Seems like it came up on me before I could plan it out. So I had 1/2 cup of baby carrots and a baked potato with sour cream that was made from tofu. It was a non-dairy substitute. It wasn't the worst I have ever had, but wasn't exactly sour cream either. It had the same consistency and tasted good. There were just moments it had a funny after taste. I suppose it will just take some getting use to.

Dinner was really good. I managed to get myself out in the cold and snow to travel to the grocery store. I decided to make some hot and sour soup. I found a really good recipe at www.allrecipes.com . If you haven't visited their site, you should. They have tons of really good recipes and they are rated with helpful hints. I use it almost religiously. We also made the Szechuan Black-Eyed Pea Salad recipe in the Thin Kitchen Recipe Book that BeachBody sent me for becoming a member. I've never been a fan of black-eyed peas, but this recipe is worth mentioning. It was REALLY good. I actually can't wait to try it out for my folks when I go home to visit.

I was very surprised at ALL the variety of food items our local grocery store has. I think I spent too much time reading labels. However, it sure was enlightening to see just how many food items have either milk or wheat in them. So it was a little more of a chore than I had expected. But I did find some rice pasta. YAY, gluten free pasta. So tomorrow night we will be eating spaghetti with a tomato basil sauce. The "no meat" thing is really tough, but doable. I also think I bought just about every kind of bean they had on the shelves. Time to get creative in the kitchen. I would sure be curious to know what you guys use for protein that would fall within the guidelines of the challenge. Just leave me a comment. It would definitely be appreciated. I like beans and nuts. Just not sure my husband will be thrilled with beans every day of the week.

I also got in the YogaX. I know, I was supposed to do it last night. Well I spent most of the afternoon researching and reading. I got my neck in a terrible kink. So I had to put off all those vinyasas until this morning. I have to say it was a really good session. I am so use to doing the YogaX upstairs in the livingroom and relying on my furniture to work as a crutch when I get in an awkward position. Today my family was using the upstairs so I had to venture to our basement. In the basement I had to totally rely on my own balance and skill to save me. To my surprise I was able to get through all of it with only a few tumbles. I think from now forward, the basement will be my yoga home.

Tomorrow starts back with the doubles. Looks like I'm adding in CardioX 4 times a week now. I'm ready to BRING IT! I also started the BeachBody Slimming Formula to help jump-start my metabolism. This is my first day and happy to report no side effects. I was expecting it to make me jittery or something, but have noticed nothing out of the ordinary. You take 2 caplets before each meal. Time will tell how beneficial it is. I will keep you guys posted. Well its bedtime. I have a date with CardioX in the AM and Chest & Back/Ab Ripper X in the PM. I think I need may need my sleep.

SUCCESS is in the Numbers

Down 7 lbs and haven't even started the challenge! Life just got sweeter! Got up this morning and slid into my favorite pair of Lucky Brand Jeans!!! I have not had these jeans on in 4 YEARS! Life is SWEET, RIGHT ABOUT NOW!!!

"I shall shape my future.
Whether I fail or succeed shall be no man's doing but my own.
I am the force; I can clear any obstacle before me.
Or I can be lost in the maze.
My choice. My responsibility.
Win or lose, only I hold the key to my destiny."
~Anonymous
 
Looking forward to those 60 Day photos! P90X is the Bomb!!!

Preparing for Clean Eating Challenge

You know some days the moon and stars just perfectly align and life seems to be in perfect sync with the path you are taking. All day I've been trying to determine how for two weeks was I going to be creative enough to keep my husband and I both happy with our new found diet plan. It came to me totally by chance.

I am a big, no I mean HUGE fan of reading. Especially fitness and nutrition. So I have to constantly feed my obsession by ordering books from Amazon almost on a weekly basis. I love a great bargain and you can find tons of AMAZING books for literally pennies on the dollar. That is a fabulous way to broaden your knowledge.

Another a great place to go is local thrift stores. Seriously, you can pick up some WONDERFUL cookbooks, fitness books, etc for really bargain basket prices. Well today was my local trip to our Goodwill Store. I love to browse through the various cookbooks they have there. I like variety and there are lots of interesting cookbooks on the market, but who has $20 a pop to tryout recipes...I mean you want your money going towards the groceries, not the print! Today my big find was a cookbook titled "Eat For Strength" A Vegetarian Cookbook. Get this, the recipes are oil-free, sugar-free, dairy-free!!! OMG! is this perfect or what! I was thrilled. The copyright date is 1978, so even back then someone knew there was a better way to fitness through nutrition.

I am so excited about my find. We are going to be trying these recipes. I will post some for you guys. I know if you are anything like me, I don't like "change" without being a little prepared. I am keeping in mind the only way I am truly going to see the amazing results I want is through my nutrition as well as the P90X! I have to be prepared to BRING IT in the kitchen just as much as I do with my workout! Ready to ROCK this body out!!! Summer will be FABULOUS...sun, sand and BIKINI time here I come.

Sunday begins Tony Horton's Eat Clean Challenge

There is nothing more inspiring than going to he VIP Chat and listening to the man himself! I absolutely love Tony Horton. Every time I have been in the chats he always says something to inspire me. Tuesday night he challenged everyone in the room if they wanted to feel better to eat clean for 2 weeks! Now this wasn't your everyday Eat Clean that they talk about on the message boards...this was the stuff the great ones like Mark Briggs and Stacy Lucy are made of  =) Which by the way were there! Double bonus!

Anyway the challenge consisted of eliminated 5 things:

1. No Alcohol or Caffeine
2. No Dairy Products
3. No Gluten (wheat product, whole grain or otherwise)
4. No refined sugars or flour
5. No animal (MEAT)...in the words of Tony himself, "If it has eyes and feet, don't eat."

I was like, "No way, I can't do that!" Then I reminded myself how I let the P90X intimidate me for 2 years before getting it out of the box...and I LOVE IT! So it is only for 2 weeks. The world won't dry up and blow away. I survived childbirth, so I can definitely survive without meat for two weeks =) I'm so fired up about it that, get this, I even convinced my husband to join me!!! AWESOME! The family that X's together stays together =)

Bonus: I got my Slimming Formula in the mail today! Perfect timing! I will see me lean in no time =) Love it! Also got my P90X Plus in the mail today...yes, I will definitely be bringing it up a notch next round (if I can wait that long).
Peace out!