Apple Cider Vinegar and Paleo Turkey Meatballs

Starting today, I am OFFICIALLY on my summer diet. No more messing around. No binge drinking on the weekends, no late night pizza, and absolutely NO MORE sweets after dinner! When you notice that you have started gaining a bit of weight in places you haven’t seen fat or thickness in, in a very long time, you know it is time to cut the BS and get to work.

I have started drinking apple cider vinegar in the morning because it is supposed to help suppress your appetite. All you do is add one teaspoon of ACV in a glass, and dilute it with about 8 oz. of water. Chug it and start your day off right! Apple cider vinegar is supposed to have a lot of good benefits, so if you are looking to detox, do your research and try it out!

Besides drinking apple cider vinegar, I have started looking up some paleo recipes to make for lunch and dinner.

Although I do not think I would be able to stick to the paleo diet, I like to try out paleo recipes from time to time for my lunch or dinner when I get bored of my usual meals. Last night I decided to make paleo turkey meatballs. I bought kosher, 85% lean ground turkey. You can use any type of ground turkey, but I decided to try this one. Instead of regular flour, I used almond flour to mix in with my turkey, and also used some to coat my meatballs. Mix in some salt, pepper, garlic powder, Italian seasoning, and an egg. Once you have mixed everything together, pre heat your oven to 400 degrees, and heat up some coconut oil in a pan. Once the oil has melted, make sure it coats the entire pan, and you can start forming your meatballs. Before placing your meatballs in the pan, lightly coat them with the almond flour. You are going to cook your meatballs in the pan for about 3 minutes on each side (or until browned), and then you are going to place them on a baking sheet and bake them for about 20-25 minutes.

 Since this was my first time ever making these, they did come out a tad bit dry, but still tasted pretty good! Now I know I should cook/bake them for a shorter amount of time. I made mine plain, but they would taste even better with a little bit of marinara sauce, or you can make some chickpea pasta and throw your meatballs in there with some tomato basil sauce, or even vodka sauce. You can put them in a salad as well, or sauté some veggies and make your own sauce.

Spring is Here!

Spring is all about the fresh and colorful fruits and veggies…..OH and getting into shape because summer is right around the corner!

Spring reminds me of vibrant colors, so start adding lots of color to your meals! Add some fresh strawberries, oranges, mangos and blueberries to your salads! Chop up some asparagus to add into your scrambled eggs in the morning. Roast some baby carrots and beats to add as a side for your dinner. Start making those on-the-go green smoothies that are super nutritious! Any way that you can add some color to your diet will help you out in the long run, both physically and mentally.

I love spring! But what starts to worry me is that summer is only 3 months away, and I still do not have my summer bod ready! The spring time usually motivates me the most because the layers of clothing are going to start dwindling, and then you realize that you are left with a gross muffin top (not that I have one, but it could happen soon!). It is also going to be great weather to start exercising outside. Not that I would want to go running on the streets of New York City, but creating workouts in Central Park could definitely be a good idea in the near future.

 Start getting into your gym routines and meal prepping, or else you will regret not looking how you want to once summer sneaks up on you!

To Use a Personal Trainer or Not to Use a Personal Trainer....

I have used personal trainers in the past, and I really enjoyed working with each and every one of them. I am the type of person who needs that extra push from someone else in order to meet my fitness goals, so that is why I have tried using different personal trainers before. It wasn’t necessarily to lose weight, because I was already going to the gym 5-6 days a week, but it was to learn different weight lifting exercises to help me tone up, and for the most part not be lazy with the amount of reps/sets I was doing.

For some people, hiring a personal trainer to help them get in shape is what they need in order to start shedding the pounds. Many people also need a trainer for nutritional purposes; what kind of diet they should be going on, along with an hour of training for 2-3 days a week (depending on the person’s goals). For others (like myself), I can now teach myself different weight lifting routines to add into my daily exercise routines. So do I need a personal trainer? No. If I had the money to afford to hire one in the city, I would for a few months just so I have someone to test my limits and push me to work the hardest I have ever worked.

I recently joined New York Sports Club, and had a free assessment with one of the personal trainers there. It was very informative, and helped me think of ways to switch up my workout routines, but for me, it just was not worth it to start paying for sessions when I don’t think I need them.

If you have the money, and you are looking to get into shape, then I do think that starting off with a personal trainer is a great idea! If you are determined to do it all on your own, then do your research and also sign up for some different classes you might be interested in taking at your gym. Either route you take is a great way to start your fitness journey =)

Are Fruits Really That Good for You?

Everyone who is on a diet, usually has a lot of fruit and vegetables incorporated into their daily meals, but is that really going to help you from keeping weight off?

Not all of the fruits we eat are that healthy for us. Many of our favorite fruits contain a shit ton of sugar, which kind of defeats the whole purpose of losing belly fat. I was actually surprised when I did my research and found out how many of my favorite fruits that I eat every week contain high amounts of sugar.

For example, bananas (my absolute fave), contain 17g of sugar!

Pineapple contain about 16g,

Grapes- 23g!

Apples- 13g.

Now, I’m not saying to stop eating these fruits just because they have a lot of sugar, BUT maybe cut back on your intake each week and start eating more low-sugar fruits instead.

The best low-sugar fruits that you should add into your diet, are raspberries (5g = 1 cup), kiwi (7g), avocado (1g), strawberries (7g = 1 cup), and blackberries (7g = 1 cup)

The best time to eat fruit is either first thing in the morning, on an empty stomach, or as a mid-morning snack. By eating fruit on an empty stomach, helps with your digestive system, and helps you feel more energized. You should definitely avoid eating fruit right before bed time, being that many of the fruits we like to eat (as I mentioned earlier), contain a lot of sugar.

How Do I Give Up Sweets and Alcohol?

So now that the month of February is over, so is my pescetarian diet. I could have definitely gone for longer, but I did miss turkey sandwiches and my grilled chicken at times. Now what I really need to cut out are sweets and alcohol.

 I know that this will be super challenging, but it is something that I really need to set my mind to and actually stick to it. It all comes down to will power and being confident that you can do it. Everyone has their own way of doing things, so I am going to come up with different strategies to follow and stick to. If you are looking to do the same thing, try and follow my recommendations below and see what works best for you!

1.   If you are craving anything sweet, try and keep dark chocolate in your house so that you can have one piece and be satisfied. Eventually you will slowly start to ween yourself off of that one piece of dark chocolate, and won’t crave it after a while. Dark chocolate is a powerful source of antioxidants and is super nutritious. It does not contain as much sugar as milk or white chocolate.
2. Do not keep any chocolate or sweets in the house, since it will be easier to get to, BUT feel free to treat yourself once in a while.
3. You can try and cut out sweets cold turkey, but if you are like me, that’s is straight up impossible.

I am not a huge drinker to begin with, but once in a while after work I like to have a glass of wine, or if I go out for dinner I might get a drink or two. On the weekends is probably when I binge drink the most, only because during the week I am usually a sober sally. Also, my friends drink and my boyfriend drinks, so sometimes I just can’t fight the temptation when happy hour or brunch is thrown my way.

My boyfriend and I said we were going to stop drinking last month, but that did not happen, so I think we may try it again in April. To be honest, drinking is probably going to be easier to eliminate than sweets, but I am going to try my best!

When I go out to dinner, I am not tempted to get a drink, so I think I can definitely do it. I just have to keep telling myself that summer is right around the corner, and by consuming alcohol and sweets, will not help my summer bod come into play.

See what works best for you, or if you have tried this before, feel free to let me know how your journey went, and how long you were able to stick it out for!