Good Morning, my friends! I hope everyone had an AWESOME week last week. To get us kicked off on the positive for another great week, this is The WOW, the Workout of the Week, from GoodAttitudeFood.com. This is the Eat Real Food Workout.
The topic this week will dive into some basic food rules I have adopted and try to follow most of the time. I will not, and do not want to tell people exactly what to eat, the goal is to show people that eating healthy food can be convenient, easy, and is important. We should eat the food we enjoy. We should be mindful to find healthier versions of those foods. There are many healthy choices and I think part of making the lifestyle change is a person finding the healthy options they personally enjoy.
The Food this week will be a great crock pot “experiment” I did earlier in the week – Chicken breast and Quinoa, with veggies.
The Music highlighted this week is a great mix from one of my YouTube favorites – Mindful Vibes.
The Workout will start with the goal of 7,000 steps at least 4 days this week. It will include a Tabata circuit with three rounds of Tabata – an RBFTB set – Resistance Band FIIT Tabata Burner, an abs routine, and a round of freestyle shadow boxing. We will round it all off with really good yoga video!
Choosemyplate.gov
If you have no basic knowledge of nutrition, like me at one time!! – Here is a great resource if you don’t know where to start at all – https://www.choosemyplate.gov/. The site shows what a normal healthy person should aim at eating every day to maintain a basic healthy diet.
My 7 Food “Rules”
- Fresh is best. Whenever possible try to eat fresh fruit, vegetables, and lean meats. When foods are fresh we know they are close to the natural state. These foods do not have things added to them, like preservatives, or chemicals color additives – here is a good article that talks about color additives in foods. While the FDA regulates and tests color additives, many that were used in the past have been banned – yellow 1, 2, 3, and 4 for example. Most color additives could be derived from plants or minerals, yet the chemical versions are often used. The long term health consequences of the chemical versions may remain unseen for years to come. Some even link A.D.D./A.D.H.D and hyperactivity in children to the use of these chemical color additives in food.
- The Fs of Food – use the 80/20 rule or better. 80% (or better) of the time eat food that came from a field, farm, or forest. Avoid foods that came from a factory or fast food restaurant. Eggs, nuts, vegetables, fruit, fish, and healthy meat options – like grass-fed beef or free-range chicken.
- When fresh isn’t available frozen can be an easy and quick alternative that is still healthy. Birds Eye frozen Steambags are great for a quick, low-prep, mid-week meal option. The mixed veggies bags are my favorite because you get a bunch of different veggies at one time. I like to pair these with a quick protein source, like a two over easy eggs, chicken breast, or a cut of beef. Best of all, no preservatives, no color additives, just real food.
- Read the label! Food labels have useful information. Knowing how to understand food labels is important but can be misleading. Here is an article that will teach you how from EatRight.org. Start with paying attention to the serving size on the package. for example, 20oz soda is not ONE serving. A 20oz soda is 2.5 servings – if you drink the whole 20 ounces, you are consuming 2.5 times everything.
- Find healthier versions of the foods you enjoy. Substitute in whole grain pasta for the regular stuff, for example. Or replace your normal frozen pizza with a healthier version, like Quest Pizza (not paid endorsement, just enjoy Quest food products because they are better alternatives if you are going to eat “factory” food).
- Avoid added sugars, “enriched” flour, hydrogenized anythings, and other highly processed foods.
- Eat REAL, whole, or close to whole, food that is close to its natural state.
The Food
On Friday I threw some stuff in the crockpot. A little bit of an experiment – cooking quinoa in a crock pot. I probably “overcooked” the quinoa a bit on this one, but hey that’s what experiments are for, plus it still tasted amazing. For my third time ever cooking with quinoa, I am not upset.
Here is the prep:
- get out the crock pot
- add chicken breast
- cut an onion into eight pieces and put half of that in, save the other half for later cooking
- tomatoes – I used red and yellow cherry tomatoes and some other red tomatoes that I had laying around
- carrots
- about 1 tablespoon of chicken soup base – or a couple of chicken bullion cubes.
- some herbs and seasoning – I added rosemary, garlic powder, and S&P to taste.
- about a cup of Quinoa, and about a cup of water
- forget about it for a couple of hours
- **KEY take-away from the experiment – add the quinoa later to avoid overcooking it. I think about 2 hours for the quinoa probably would have cooked it about perfectly, on the 6 hour setting of my crock pot.
- **KEY take-away 2 – watch out for flaming tomatoes – maybe cut tomatoes in half before cooking — I burned the tip of my nose by squashing a tomato, it was filled with flaming hot juice that it squirted at me – looks like a big zit on the end of my nose, HAHA!
- This was about 5 minutes of prep and netted about 4 meals worth of food for me! **This is easier than fast food!
- Real ingredients, healthy and nutrient dense foods, so good!
The Music
The music this week is a really great “Jazz Hop” playlist from the Mindful Vibes YouTube Channel. This spot has HOURS of awesome free music. I love the beats on this one!
The Workout
As always – warm up before a workout with a dynamic warm up! This gets your body prepped for the work to come and helps avoid injury.
Round 1 – 7,000 steps however you can get em; run/walk intervals
Continuing run/walk intervals with the goal of 7k steps per day, at least 4 days out of the week. I think this week I am going to add some 30X30 intervals of sprint/walk sets. Maybe sets of 5 intervals twice per outing.
I will also try to mix in some disc golf rounds. Maybe a round or two of HIIT disc golf.
Remember even going to the grocery store, the mall, or any other walking counts towards the steps. Get those steps in yo!
Round 2 – FIIT Tabata circuits
I use my android app interval timer – set it for 8 intervals of 20 on 10 off – FIIT principles means Flow Intensity Interval Training – max 85% work during the 20 seconds. Find that flow!
I am running with this at least 3 days out of the week as a goal. I am doing these three “stations” with about 1-minute rest between each for the circuit workout. Counting the breaks, this a 14-minute circuit workout. Who doesn’t have 14 minutes?
RBFTB – Resistance Band FIIT Tabata sets – with resistance band anchored.
- Woodchoppers right
- Woodchoppers left
- Butterflies
- Reverse Butterflies
- Standing bench
- Pull Backs
- curls
- One-two punch combos
Abs circuit
Tabata Abs workout – repeat these 4 exercises for one Tabata set – FIIT principles – 85% max “perceived exertion”.
- Crunches
- Sit up twist, opposite toe touches
- leg raises
- flat plank
Freestyle shadow boxing
One Tabata round of half-speed, freestyle, punch combos, with weighted gloves. FIIT Principles. Freestyle – have some fun!
Round 3 – Yoga Video
Yoga With Tim is a free YouTube Channel with hours of great yoga. Check out this one and all the others available. Show them some love for the awesome gift of free yoga! This routine is a great way to start the day! I will be trying to get this one in every weekday morning this week before work!
Make it a Great Week!
There you have it, my friends! This has been the workout of the week for the week of 6-10-19; The Eat Real Food Workout! Thank you so much for reading. Thank you to all the free content providers! Make it a great week!
Be happy and healthy my friends! Fuel the hero in your story with real food!
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