Low Carb Your Life

I'm coming off of one of the most amazing trips of my life. I get to have this experience at least once every year. You see, I am a Beachbody Coach. The term alone does absolutely no justice for what it actually means. Basically, it means that I get to earn an income helping other people make positive, healthy changes in their lives while also holding myself accountable all while being surrounded by positive, happy, motivating people who pride themselves on integrity and personal growth.  Damn, that was a mouthful...but it's the truth! Every year Beachbody rewards coaches who earn it with an all-inclusive trip for themselves and a guest, and they pull out all the stops for these things. This year our trip was held at the Hard Rock Hotel in Punta Cana and I could not have asked for anything better.  When we arrived at the hotel Beachbody corporate had quite the setup. We were welcomed by food, drinks, smiling faces, and photo ops with people dressed as Michael J

For the last 60 days, I have been using the fitness program Hammer and Chisel. After an intense 21 day cleanse followed by 60 days of PiYo, I wanted to build some muscle. I was unsure how that would go because I had recently adopted a vegan diet. Many people told me it was impossible to build muscle while eating vegan and I wanted to test it out for myself.  Although I am not yet at my goal, I found that it is actually possible to build muscle on a vegan diet. It took me some getting use to, but once I tweaked my meal plan with the 21 day fix vegan plan things started to go in the right direction.  I found it difficult at first to eat more carbs than I used to. I am used to eating an extremely lean diet filled with ground turkey and fish. For the next 60 days I am considering adding fish and eggs to my plan while increasing my weights and switching to strictly the Hammer portion of the program. Overall, I am happy with the progress I have made thus far and can'

Who doesn't love chips? I have been experimenting with making different forms of veggie chips trying to find some that work. These Himalayan salt and vinegar zucchini chips were definitely good, but they shrunk down to tiny little chips. Overall they were really easy to make and filled my void for some chips in my life. Try them out and let me know what you think!  Ingredients: 1 zucchini cut into 1/8 inch thick slices (about 45 slices) 1 Tablespoon red wine vinegar  1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil  1/8 teaspoon Himalayan salt  Directions: Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees F. Combine zucchini, vinegar, and oil in a medium bowl, tossing to coat well. Let sit for 10 minutes.  Place zucchini slices on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper (you may need two baking sheets) sprinkle evenly with salt. Bake at 200 degrees F. for 2-2 1/2 hours or until chips are dried, crisp, and lightly golden, flipping chips halfway through baking. Remove from oven, cool complete

I got this recipe from Jamie Oliver's blog . I had been pretty excited to make it because I LOVE veggie noodles. I will say I was a tad disappointed with the taste. I feel like if I had added more spices and herbs it would have been delicious, but I felt that it was a bit bland. Also, I prefer my noodles to be cooked. That being said, I feel like this recipe has potential to be amazing with a couple of personal tweaks based on preference!  Ingredients: 2 green zucchini  2 yellow zucchini  1 large carrot  2 corn cobs (kernels only) 1 large handful of mixed herbs, such as coriander, flat-leaf parsley, rosemary, oregano, thyme Curried Coconut Sauce: one small shallot  one small clove of garlic  3cm piece of ginger 1/2 a fresh green chile 2 tsp. ground turmeric  1 lime, plus extra to serve 3/4 cup coconut milk 1 and 1/4 cup coconut water 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut 1 tsp. medium hot curry powder Directions:  First make the sauce. Peel and roug

As I sit here trying to visualize the type of people I would like to attract to my coaching team I've come to realize that the language used in short posts and videos might not truly show the entirety of what it means to be a TeamBstrong member and part of Team Beachbody.  I feel like it's actually really hard to define because it means different things to different people. It means different things for me personally depending on the day.  Sometimes it means a paycheck, sometimes it means accountability to my fitness, motivating events, and friendship. Sometimes it means hope, sparks of inspiration that had gone dormant, and true feelings of happiness that have been hiding. Sometimes it means belief...belief in oneself, belief in society, belief that I am capable of obtaining my goals, of living life fully. Sometimes it means pride. It means, "hell yeah I put in the work to change my body physically, my brain mentally, my soul spiritually".  Sometimes i

This past weekend the team got together and attended the Boston area Super Saturday. Super Saturday is the quarterly meeting that coaches attend to share success stories, get energized with other coaches, hear all about upcoming releases, and get training from leaders within our company. This Super Saturday happened to be a special one here in Boston because coaches got to do a special workout with celebrity trainer, Autumn Calabrese!  The room was packed, and the crowd was radiating positive energy and excitement especially since we were anxiously awaiting the announcement of two new Shakeology flavors. Autumn led an amazing workout and got the energy flowing for our day! As for the announcements, there were quite a few! First, not only did they release two new Shakeology flavors with Vegan Cafe Latte and Vegan Vanilla but they improved the formula by adding two new key ingredients!  In addition to the already nutrient dense ingredients in Shakeology i

I needed to switch it up to something lighter this recipe Thursday! In two weeks I am headed to the Hard Rock in Punta Cana with a shit ton of Beachbody coaches to celebrate a year of hard work. Every year coaches are able to earn a free all inclusive trip for themselves and a guest, and I have yet to miss a trip. There was one tiny issue this year though...recipe Thursdays paired with some bad habits creeping back in have caused me to gain a few pounds. Usually, that wouldn't be a huge deal, but I like to feel confident in a bathing suit. No biggie, I just need to stick to my portion containers and go light on recipe Thursday for the next couple weeks.  Every week you guys vote on my socials to decide which recipe I will make and this Thursday you did NOT fail me!  It was a close one, but the Sweet Potato Chickpea Buddha Bowl from Minimalist Baker came out the winner and I'm happy it did! It was a really light and healthy dish. I almost felt enlightened after eat

I always look forward to Easter with my family. Spring is in the air, the weather is changing, kids are outside playing, and dinner is cooking! All great things...one thing that is not all that great is my sugar addiction. With Easter M&M's, Cadbury eggs, chocolate bunnies, and peeps which now come in colors I didn't even know existed. It would be great if I could just take one and keep on keeping on, but that is not how my brain works. That being said, I need to be a little more mindful around Easter and what I put into my body.  Here are 5 tips to keep you on track this Easter and out of a Peep coma.  1. Hunt For Something Other Than Chocolate When I was young we colored real Eggs and hunted for those. Although it got awkward when there was always one or two that went missing for a month (yikes), it lessens the amount of chocolate around the house, plus hard boiled eggs are a great snack. 2. Eat Breakfast!   Start your Easter morning off