Make It Monday: Margarita Chicken

 

Two things I love: margaritas and the crock pot (or slow cooker). Oh wait - chicken too! This Make it Monday post combines all three of those to make Margarita Chicken. And guess what? Your kids can not only eat it, they will love it too! No worries - there is no tequila in the recipe.

Thanks to Red Tricycle, I found this versatile, low fat chicken recipe from Crockpot Gourmet that you can serve over brown rice, couscous, quinoa or over a bed of greens with veggies and a citrus vinaigrette.

But let's talk crock pot though first. Four problems I see with the crock pot -

1) People don't use it enough. Hello....it's soooo easy. Throw in the ingredients (no thawing necessary), walk away and come back 4-8 hrs later to a homemade meal. Now why are you complaining about dinner again?!?!?

2) People think you have to be a "mom with kids" to use a crock pot. If you're single or a couple, just buy yourself a Food Saver and vacuum seal the leftovers. Note to moms; you too should do this. If you're already cooking, why not make a little more, vacuum seal the extra and wah-la you have yourself another meal on another night that will literally take seconds to heat up.

3) People associate "crock pot" with unhealthy. That's incredibly naïve. There are a gazillion recipes online and crock pot cookbooks that cater to people's dietary needs; vegetarian, low-carb, Paleo to name a few.

3) People think that once warm weather hits, that it's time to put the crock pot away. So not the case. Not all crock pot meals are cold weather soups and stews. In fact, there are several light, delicious summery meals that will save you from standing over the stove on a hot day.

Moral of the story - USE A CROCK POT. And make this meal. :)

Margarita Chicken

 

Ingredients:

• 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1/2 cup limeade (frozen limeade works)
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 1 cup water or chicken broth
• 3 cloves minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon dried cilantro
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Mix rice, limeade, orange juice, water, garlic and cilantro in bottom of crock
2. Add chicken to crock and sprinkle the top part that is not covered by liquid with the cayenne pepper and salt and pepper
3. Cover and cook on high for 3-4 hours or low for 6-8 hours

Note: You may want to use an oval crock for this so the liquid not be as deep and the chicken will not be submerged.

Carb Cycling 101

 

Carb cycling. Hmmm. I'm intrigued. You? Most of you reading this have been brainwashed to think carbs are the devil. Not so. If you know anything about anything you know that there are good carbs and bad carbs. And the right balance of carbs, protein and fat is imperative for your overall health. Chris Powell, trainer from ABC's "Extreme Weight Loss" swears by carb cycling to lose and maintain your optimal weight loss results. Powell explains that high carb days rev up your metabolism and low carb days maximize weight loss. The theory is that when your body keeps alternating between modes, you create the perfect balance to weight loss. So what is carb cycling? In the following paragraphs, you'll learn the basics of carb cycling, four different carb cycling plans - Easy, Classic, Turbo, and Fit - as well as the basics of how to execute this on a weekly basis.

What is Carb Cycling?

Carb cycling is an eating plan with alternating high-carb and low-carb days. It’s that simple. It also has built-in reward days or reward meals (depending on the plan you’re following), so you can still eat your favorite foods on a regular basis. Sounds pretty much perfect, right?

While each plan has a different mix of high-carb and low-carb days, each day works basically the same:

• Eat five meals—no more, no less.
• Eat a high-carb breakfast that includes both protein and carbs within 30 minutes of waking.
• Eat your remaining 4 meals - either high-carb or low-carb, depending on the plan you’re following - every 3 hours.
• Choose approved foods (Click HERE for the printable food guide)
• Drink a gallon of water.

How does it work?

In order to lose weight, our bodies need the right combination of proteins, carbs, and healthy fats. Here’s why:

• Protein builds and maintains muscles and these muscles burn calories like an inferno. Protein also breaks down more slowly than carbs and fat, which burns even more calories and helps you feel fuller longer.

• Carbs are the preferred fuel source for your muscles and organs, and they come in healthy versions (vegetables, fruits, grains, and legumes), and not-so-healthy versions (cakes, cookies, soda, doughnuts, candy, and many processed foods).  Healthy carbs are also crucial for burning calories, and since they break down more slowly than those not-so-healthy carbs, they keep your blood sugar and energy levels steady, and they also keep your calorie-burning furnace hot so it burns more calories!

• Healthy fats (unsaturated fats) eaten in moderation help the development and function of your eyes and brain and help prevent heart disease, stroke, depression, and arthritis. Healthy fats also help keep your energy levels steady and keep you from feeling hungry.

So why do we alternate high-carb and low-carb days in carb cycling? On high-carb days you’re stocking your calorie-burning furnace so that on low-carb days your furnace burns fat, and lots of it! This pattern tricks your metabolism into burning a lot of calories, even on those low-carb days. It’s an amazing and well-proven process.

For this plan, carbs are considered fruits, starches (such as bread and rice) and starchy vegetables (like peas and potatoes). Reach for non-starchy veggies (like broccoli, asparagus and spinach) all you want - they don't count toward the day's calories.

What are the benefits?

Carb cycling has many benefits:

• It fits any lifestyle.
• You’ll learn how to shed weight and body fat, and how to make smart lifestyle choices for the rest of your life. This puts YOU in control.
• You’ll feel better and have more energy.
• You’ll eat the foods you love.
• You’ll build lean, strong muscles.
• You’ll be empowered physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.

Your CARB CYCLING weekly plan:

In order to find your ideal Carb Cycling plan, click on the links below to learn more about Powell's four different Carb Cycling plans -

Easy Carb Cycle
Classic Carb Cycle
Turbo Carb Cycle
Fit Carb Cycle

Remember you'll eat five times each day from the approved food list above at three hour intervals. Each meal should be around 250 calories, not including non-starchy veggies for a total of about 1,250 calories daily. Have your first meal within 30 minutes of waking and drink 1/2 your weight in ounces of water daily to fire up your metabolic engine. And if you want to see results and don't have any excuse to deviate from the plan, prep meals on Sunday for the week ahead. Pre-cook your proteins, chop veggies and store everything in the refrigerator.

Get even more details on carb cycling in Powell's books Choose to Lose: The 7-Day Carb Cycle Solution, and Choose More, Lose More for Life

Beating the Belly Blues

 

Hello again!!!! My apologizes for going MIA on y'all. I thought I would give myself some grace during the transition from two to four kids...overnight. We are nothing but overjoyed with the addition of our identical twin girls, Reese and Rio, but I'd be lying if I didn't admit that it's friggin' HARD work!!! There is nothing like doing multiple babies at ONE time. On top of attending to two active boys, ages 5 and just turned 3. It is anything but quiet around my hood.

Today however, I did have some time while my angels are napping and my boys are at school. I thought I'd log onto the blog and see what's shakin. Surprisingly, you're all still giving Hailey's Helpful Hints some love despite my absence. In fact - my one post "Tame the Tum - Spare Tire or Stress Bulge?" continues to get blown up on Pinterest! Who would have thought 4,946,000 people would be interested in such an article?? And no that's not a typo - 4 MILLION+ peeps. I too am shocked. And so thankful for the readers!!

So as I sat here thinking about what to blog on, I figured it's only appropriate to provide some helpful tips on something you all interested in - belly fat and bloating!

Sadly belly fat doesn’t just innocently sit under your skin and force you to loosen your belt another notch. It lives deep in your body, around your organs. And according to Dr. Oz, that deep fat is a troublemaker. It cranks out hormones and proteins that can trigger chronic inflammation and raise your risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and even colon cancer.

Did you know?

You need to eat fat to lose fat. It’s time to stop being fat-phobic and start focusing on getting the right fats. Eating healthy monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats - those are the types found in olive oil, avocados, and nuts - may trim what’s around your middle. One study found that people who got 25% of their daily calories from healthy fats gained less belly fat than people who ate fewer healthy fats.

Belly fat hates whole grains. That’s why you should love them. Refined grains like white pasta and white rice tend to feed a muffin top and may increase your risk for problems like diabetes, too. But eating whole grains like quinoa, barley, and whole wheat pasta might boost weight loss. In one study, people who included whole grains in their diets lost nearly eight pounds in 12 weeks, while refined-grain eaters lost only about six.

Belly fat thrives on stress. When the pressure's on, your body produces the "stress hormone" cortisol, which makes fat pile up around your midsection. Pretty discouraging when are surrounded by stress all day, everyday. Try these instant calmers and start getting stress under control in as little as 60 seconds.

Are you one of the many that wake up with a flat belly only to find that by the end of the day your stomach looks like you are 6 months pregnant? Ugh, isn't that the worst?? So many women are misled that they need to get on the floor and bust out 1,000 sit-ups. Not the case. According to gastroenterologist Dr. Robynne Chutkan, below is a step by step plan - that you can start today - to eliminate hidden causes of tummy trouble and beat your bloat in the kitchen.

 

Step 1: Start your day with an anti-bloat elixir - Many people are jinxing themselves right off the bat by reaching for bagels or sugary cereals first thing in the morning. These foods clog up your system and set you up for day-long gas buildup. Instead, get your system moving right away by blending together this fiber-rich elixir that helps food move through your digestive tract.
Aim to get 25 grams or more of fiber a day, but if you normally eat a low-fiber diet, start slow and gradually increase the amount. If you notice a little extra bloating at first, don't be deterred – most people's bodies will adjust to increased amounts of fiber over time.

Step 2: Supersize your lunch - Many people eat their biggest meal at dinner, but eating too late at night can cause a log jam in your gut. To help beat bloat, you should enjoy a three-course lunch instead. Make sure your lunch includes about 10 grams of fiber to help keep your food moving. Here's a good example of a fiber-rich, delicious lunch option:

• First course: Salad (add in all your favorite veggies and a light dressing)
• Main course: Grilled fish with sweet potato and a cup of steamed broccoli
• Dessert: A cup of fiber-rich fruits like raspberries and blackberries

Step 3: Eat a finely chopped dinner and avoid leftovers - Now that you've had your supersize lunch, go for a one-course, easy-to-digest dinner. Big meals and big bites can be hard for our bodies to digest in the evening. Chopped food can facilitate digestion and leaves less empty space trapped in the belly. A bowl of chopped chicken, veggies and rice is a great option.
The second dinner rule is no eating leftovers. You may think you're doing yourself a favor by bringing home your leftover food for later meals, but allowing certain starches like pasta, rice and potatoes to cool and then reheating them can change their molecular structure and make them more likely to plug up your colon and cause significant discomfort.

Step 4:  Cut out dairy - Unfortunately, to say goodbye to bloat, you may have to say goodbye to dairy as well. At some point in their lives, nearly 75% of people experience lactose intolerance, which may be permanent or temporary. A little bit of lactose intolerance can contribute a lot to bloat.
Here are some easy swaps for dairy lovers:

• Drink almond milk instead of cow's milk in your coffee, cereal, or smoothies
• Try coconut-milk ice cream instead of regular ice cream
• Try vegan cheese instead of normal cheese

It's important to make sure you're still getting plenty of calcium in your diet, but you have plenty of non-dairy options. Among them are salmon, sardines, mineral water, oranges, almond milk, sesame seeds and many nuts.

Bonus tip: Try fennel seeds - If you need a quick remedy for sudden bloat, try fennel seeds. They help melt away gas bubbles and only cost pennies a pinch. Try chewing a half-teaspoon before every meal.

You can read more about busting bloat in Dr. Chutkan's book, Gutbliss: A 10-Day Plan to Ban Bloat, Flush Toxins, and Dump Your Digestive Baggage.

Tool to avoid winter weight gain

 

Already feeling the winter flub creep up on you? Aka - the extra poundage from weekend after weekend of football tailgating and all day beer drinking. Fall comfort food. Seasonal drinks. Trader Joe's pumpkin bread. Most are. But most just pull out the oversized sweater to hide behind and carry on.

If you're determined that this won't be you this fall/winter but have no idea where to start to target your trouble areas, I encourage you to check out this resourceful, interactive website that allows you to select the body part you wish to work on and provides you with easy at home exercises you can do to keep those unnecessary pounds at bay.

To use the Exercise Finder, click HERE.

Why didn't I think of that?

How genius and functional is this water bottle? It's almost as cool as my iPhone card carrying phone case with an added bonus of carrying a key. It's products like this that make me shake my head and wonder - why the heck didn't I think of this? I'm smarter than that.

Perfect for the gym, long bike rides or to carry with you all day as you try to get in your 64 oz of water. Which I can't seem to master for the life of me. Tomorrow I keep saying. But for today, I sit surrounded by wine glasses and Diet Coke. Sigh.

To purchase, click HERE.

My latest obsession: GoRecess.com

Talk.About.Brilliant. I'm obsessed. Gorecess.com makes finding a fitness class and scheduling a time to exercise so much easier. Tired of your workout routine? Interested in taking a class such as Barre or Mat Pilates but your gym doesn't offer it? Moved to a new city and are unsure of where to workout?

GoRecess helps you find the best class of the day, where you want, when you want, so you can be your best every day. Maybe you're in the mood for a certain type of workout. Maybe you want convenience and something that fits your hectic schedule. Maybe you want variety and the flexibility to try new places. Or maybe you just need the motivation of a good instructor and others around you to inspire you to push yourself.

From spinning and yoga to pilates and boxing and more, GoRecess will help you find exactly what you're seeking. Say goodbye to boring runs on the treadmill, mindless strides on the elliptical and excuses to skip a workout. Now get off your couch or away from your desk and choose your "recess."

What I love about GoRecess is that it finds all the group classes in my area with just one click. It doesn't get any easier than that. Group classes, if you can get past the intimidating factor (and yes there is always someone worse than you in the class), are an amazing calorie blasting workout. It's an hour of intense working out as opposed to wandering the gym trying to muster up motivation. I love the concept of GoRecess because it allows me to change up my workout so I never get bored.

All you have to do is visit gorecess.com, plug in your address or zip, time of day you’re looking to break a sweat, and the desired activity (Pilates? yoga? strength training?) you’re up for and the radius you are willing to drive (or even better bike or jog!), and the site will give you a detailed list of all the fitness options in your area like you see above. 

Also, most studios will offer their first class for free, so if you’re on a tight budget, you can jump around for a while while you save up some cash and settle on your favorite.

I encourage all of you to take a second and check out GoRecess, it may inspire you to try something you have never done before OR find something you didn't know existed!