Green Mango Smoothie

1 large mango peeled and chopped

1/4 cup frozen spinach

2-4 leaves of kale

1/2 banana

1/2-3/4 cup fresh orange juice or almond milk

 Blend the fruit first using half of the liquid. Once combined, add the greens and the rest of the liquid. Blend until the consistency is smooth. 

Enjoy!

*Remember, there are no rules or limits to your creativity. If you don't like kale, just stick with the spinach. If you want your smoothie thicker use less liquid. 

If your cutting calories use water instead of juice...the options are endless!

Try your personal favorite green vegetable and let me know how it turns out.

Keep in mind that different vegetables take on different flavors and levels of bitterness and vitamins.

Enjoy for breakfast or as a healthy snack in the middle of your day!

Benefits of consuming mangoes:

• Contains beta-carotene, vitamin E, and selenium which help to protect one from heart disease

• Mangoes are recommended for pregnant women and people who suffer from anemia due to its high iron content 

• Mangoes contain a phenolic compound that is said to have powerful antioxidant and anticancer abilities

• Known to aid in combating poor digestion  

• It's been said that the Vitamin E in mangoes helps to boost ones sex life and hormonal system function

Lifting Weights Series Part 3

Let's complete the series, with step 3 of the challenge. Executing this move will strengthen your back, glutes, hamstrings, lats, shoulders and core. Remember to take your time as you do this and push yourself to try it with your heavier set of weights (5- 8 lbs). This exercise is a great fat burner because you are using a lot of muscles at once to achieve a movement. Because we aren't using very heavy weights here for all of the muscles involved, we can afford to push the amount of reps we do so that we can feel the total body effects. 

Remember form is most important: 

Make sure your feet are directly under your hips, your feet stay still, and your back remains straight and never rounded, don't lean backwards as you lift stand straight up

Dead Lift:

Starting Position 1

Position 2

Start with you knees slightly bent. Fold over at your hips while letting the weights drop towards the floor. Maintain your posture and keep your back flat.

                                            Complete 15-20 reps, 2-3 sets

Lifting Weights Part 2

The triceps (on the back upper part of the arm) or lack thereof are responsible for that extra giggle every time you wave goodbye. The three muscles that combine to form the tricep are responsible for 60% of your arm muscle make up. It is not the source of annoyance for everyone though, it can serve its' purpose of assisting with any pushing motion that we do.  Increasing the strength in our triceps helps to improve the overall strength in our arms and helps the arm to show as toned. Whether it be Michelle Obama or Jessica Biel arms that we want, one should know that the only way to get strength and toning is to isolate and work the muscle.

Start with these tricep extensions and feel the burn!

 Tricep Extension:

Starting Position 1

Position 2

Feet are parallel, knees are bent, and your body is between a 45 and 90 degree angle to the floor. Pull elbows up towards the ceiling and extend arms straight back.

Complete 12-15 reps, 2-3 sets

Grilled Halibut with Mango Salsa

 Halibut is a lean, meaty, flaky white fish that has its own natural sweetness.  I personally think it needs quite a bit of flavor injection, but it being such a substantial piece of fish makes for good, hearty eating. FYI- Every food has a season and the prime season for the best Halibut is during the summer and fall months unless frozen (which is available all year round). Hailbut is full of protein, Vitamins B6, 12, and 3. It contains a lot of minerals and of course our favorite: Omega-3 Fatty Acids (which helps keep a healthy, well functioning heart).

Make sure you are familiar with a local store that sells fresh seafood (Whole Foods can work too). Get to know one of the people who work there so you can build up your relationship and they can honestly let you know what is "really good" and priced well. Fresh Halibut will be glistening white, without any signs of spots or discoloration. Make sure it does not smell FISHY, it should smell like seawater, not an off-putting fish smell. Refrigerate it immediately.

GRILLED HALIBUT:  1 Pound of Halibut, divided in to 4 steaks

Marinade:                                                                                            Fruit Salsa:

1 Orange zested  juiced (1/3 cup of OJ)                            1 cup chopped mango/peaches
2 Tbsp. Grapeseed oil                                                        1 Jalapeno chopped, seeded
1 Lime zested & juiced                                                       1/4 cup red onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced                                                       1/2 Tbsp. ginger, finely minced
1 Tbsp. dark brown sugar                                                   1/2 cup cucumber diced
Sea salt                                                                               2 cloves garlic, minced
Black pepper                                                                       4 Tbsp. cilantro &mint, chopped
                                                                                            1 Roma Tomato (no seeds), diced
                                                                                            Pinch sea salt & pepper
                                                                                            1/4 cup lime juice

After unwrapping the fish, rinse it under cold water and pat it dry with a paper towel before seasoning.

Combine ingredients for the marinade. Set aside about 1/4 cup of marinade to baste the fish as it is grilling. Place your marinating fish into a Ziplock bag and into the fridge for 1 hour. While fish is marinating combine Fruit Salsa ingredients and allow the flavors to blend while waiting.

Get your grill prepped for the fish by spraying a nonstick coating on the pan. Remove Halibut from the marinade and place onto the medium high heat. This should take about 5 min. on each side. You'll know its ready when the fish is easily flaked apart with a fork and it will be tender.

*Remember that while your fish is cooking use your reserved marinade and baste the fish during the process to ensure a punch of flavor*

Serve while hot and top with your fruit salsa. 

*You can even add a side of your Grilled Asparagus

Enjoy this hearty healthy meal!

Check This Out:

Seafood Watch Guide: Explains what seafood to eat or avoid

Lifting Weights Series (Part One) ... Let's do it

It is so important to start using weights if you don't already. They won't bulk you up ladies, but it will help ensure that your bones remain as strong as possible to carry you into the many years to come. I know all too well that showing up to the gym and avoiding the "weights" area saves a lot of anxiety. I work with so many women who are afraid of the men on the weight lifting floor, but after I guide them through the area and show them that machines and weights are there for them as well, the "DO NOT ENTER" zone is much more inviting.

Just try it one day. Walk through those doors, head straight to the weight lifting area... and get going. Get your 3-15 pound weights and set up your own area. No one will look at you strangely (I promise). Just zone out from your surroundings and tune into the task at hand: losing weight, toning your body, and strengthening your body from the bones out.

For the Ladies: Let's address "THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM" :

         LIFTING WEIGHTS WILL NOT MAKE YOU BULKY

You won't end up looking like a body builder or be bigger than your boyfriend (although you might get stronger than him!)

We have a different hormonal make up than men, which makes it almost impossible to build bulky muscles like guys do. Lifting lighter weights and doing a substantial amount of reps with proper stretching afterwards will build your muscular endurance and give you long lean muscles like a dancer.

Try some of these moves the next time you go to the gym, park, or beach. Have fun feeling the burn and knowing that adding weights to your workout will add years to your life.

 Bicep Curl with Squat:

Position 2

Starting Position 1

REMEMBER YOUR FORM:

Stand with feet in a parallel position, knees slightly bent, and belly button pulled into your spine. As you bend your knees deeper feel as if you were sitting in an imaginary chair and bring the weight closer to your chest into a bicep curl.

Complete 10-15 reps, 2-3 sets

It's been proven that lifting weights regularly will decrease body fat, reduce blood pressure, improve your athletic abilities, reduce the risk of heart disease and diabetes as well as reduce injuries, back pain & arthritis.  

Join me at the gym, I'll be in the weight lifting section.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of the Weight Lifting Series

Grilled/Roasted Asparagus

Asparagus is available year round, but during spring is when they are at their peak. These long stalks pack so much within them. They are low in calories and are considered a detoxing and anti-aging vegetable (*preserving your sexy*). They also provide calcium, folic acid, Vitamins A, B, C, and specifically B9 (which helps prevent birth defects). Granted they give your urine a strong odor, but that just lets you know your body is still working and its doing its digestive thing, which is great news.

Grilled Asparagus
1 pound of Asparagus, trimmed
2 Garlic Cloves sliced 
1/2 Shallot *optional
1/2 tsp. Himalayan pink salt or sea salt
1 tsp. Black pepper
2 Tbsp. Extra Virgin Olive Oil

I always rinse the stalks in water to get rid of anything that may be lurking from the farm or grocery store, and then pat them dry with a towel. Once dry and ready to go, place in the bottom of a shallow pan. Lay them out evenly trying to avoid overlapping. Drizzle the oil over them liberally and make sure they are coated. Don't be afraid to get your hands in there. Sprinkle on the salt, pepper, garlic, and shallot. Move the asparagus around and make sure everything is spread out evenly. Place on the grill or in grill pan, and remove when the stalks are tender and slightly charred with grill marks, about 6 minutes.
If roasting the asparagus: 400 degree oven for about 8-14 min until tender but still crisp.

Enjoy as a side dish or a snack!!

Snacks in the house

I am roaming the cabinets again...

  I have been wandering around my kitchen aimlessly. I've gotten up to look in the cupboards every 30min. like clockwork. I keep expecting to discover something new or different, but no... just the things I bought from the grocery store. All of my healthy snacks and nutritional items... a good thing without a doubt, but I am craving something "bad" and looking for my fix. I want something salty and crunchy.

I said I wasn't going to keep snacks in the house, but dammit....I want a snack. I feel like a child again for an instant. You know that feeling when you just want what you want, no questions. Well, my grownup self had to intervene with this tantrum. Last time in the kitchen, what is it going to be?

  The thing is, if I had a bag of chips in the cabinet I probably wouldn't really want it, I would just eat it because it was there and it was easy to get to. I know that a handful of almonds or a grapefruit will curb the craving for something else, but I've had that already. I want something warm and good, Something that will last for a while, and will not leave me counting the minutes until my next meal...

POPCORN!!!!!!!

I just spotted some kernels in the cabinet. PS- they aren't Orville Redenbacher kernels, and they are just as delicious. I've been using "Deerfield Farms" brand. I'm not endorsing them, just letting you know that they are cheaper than almost $7 a container.

  Oh my gosh, Popcorn is really the perfect snack. My family LOVES popcorn, if we could have it everyday we would. Whether it be made at home (air popped or stove top), from the movies, Target, or a carnival, send popcorn our way and we will take it. Popcorn is really the perfect snack (among others that I'll share later). Its FULL of fiber which keeps you feeling full, its a whole grain just like brown rice and oatmeal, its satisfying and full of iron, protein and minerals, and last: it's soo good.

  Popcorn in its pure popped form is not the issue, its when we add too much butter, salt, seasoning etc. that things can go over board. I am not saying don't spice up a snack and enjoy it the way you like it, I am saying: if you have a goal, train yourself to reach it by doing whats best for your body and not overindulging on the fixin's.

  If you must add something to your popcorn, and a touch of salt and/or butter or try some of these additions: -almonds -chopped dried fruit - pretzels - pumpkin seeds - a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese - soy nuts. Those additions are great ways to combine the crunch of popcorn with a small dose of sweet, salty or chewy. Remember, don't over do it. 3 cups of popcorn is a healthy serving!

Treat yourself, I am right now!

Moving into our 30's and things are shifting

  No more waking up to a perfect body with no cares in the world and not even realizing it. We were so dramatic in our 20's, little did we know we had it made in the shade. All the time we needed to "figure things out" was really just us stalling. Don't get me wrong, that is not a bad thing. Those time were very necessary in order for us to be where we are today and to have fun at whatever age bracket we may fall into or out of.
  Those days aren't completely gone either. There is still alot of "stalling time" that takes place and is needed in order to get our bearings, but as we start to settle into who we are and into our lives, we quickly realize... Oh my gosh, I am not getting any younger!!!
  I don't know about you, but my body is starting to settle with gravity and its time I start putting things in check. This über laid back lifestyle approach isn't really working for me. I'm talking about " Eb, you don't have to work out today, you're just fine." Umm...hello, when you say that 10,12,14 days in a row, no you're not fine. Your body begins to recognize and quickly adapt to its new sedentary lifestyle. Meaning sedentary organs, muscles, and body shape.

Which means...not cute. 

  I have enough life experience to know that nothing you really want is going to come waltzing into your life the way you might imagine. It's about GETting UP and GOing AFTER IT, whatever it may be (love, a job, a healthy lifestyle etc.) No more "life keeps happening to me" for the good or bad, I'm taking as much control of me as I can. Best believe I am starting with my health and body. I recognize that more than the aesthetics of it all, I want to set myself up for living and experiencing as much of this life as possible in as many age brackets as I can fit into.