Meal Prepping Gone RIGHT

I find it interesting foods can determine how you feel, and how it truly designs your body. Not always good though, right? But by now I think we understand good foods vs. bad….. Or maybe not? So today I’d like to touch on Meal Prepping.

BASICS : 

First I’d like to dive into the basics. Have a plan! Find a day of the week that works best for you. I’d love to meal prep every Sunday but my schedule just doesn’t work out that way. My days off are very random. Sometimes you can catch me meal prepping on a Sunday, other times it can be on a Thursday. As long as it works for you, go for it.

Now that you know which day your prepping on, lets step in your kitchen! Go through your pantry/fridge and see what you already have, and lets be honest- what you need to throw out, AKA expired products, LOL. Meal prep days also gives me the time to clean my kitchen, not to mention doing dishes about 3 times! TUPPERWARE OVERLOAD Haha. Now that thats done you can choose what your meals are going to be.

Oh wait, do you need help deciding? Well, down below I have a list of foods that will help you create the most beneficial meals! Including protein, carbs, and veggies! I’m an advocate for REAL food, locally grown, organic and clean. so I highly encourage you to buy and eat clean. Not only for your health but to help continue USAD Organic products to be on shelves at stores and markets. &Here are two sites to help you find local raised foods:

  • LocalHarvest.org
  • EatWild.com

If you do not eat meat or like me very minimal, try filling your plates up with beans, grains, and vegetables. Plus it is cheaper skipping out on the meat every now and again 🙂

YOUR GROCERY LIST:

PROTEIN 

Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast (about 139 g per 1 LB)

Ground Turkey(4 oz 22g)

Salmon(40 g 0.5 g fillet)

Ahi Tuna(3 oz 25 g)

Talapia (23 g 1 fillet serving)

Shrimp (3 OZ 19 g protein)

Tofu(3 OZ 12 g protein)

Beans

Chickpeas

Lentils

Hemp Seeds

CARBOHYDRATES 

Brown Rice (43 g carbs)

Potatoes (about 37 g carbs)

Sweet Potatoes(27 g carbs))

Steel Cut Oats(27 g carbs)

Quinoa(20 g carbs, about 1/2 cup serving)

Ezekiel or wheat bread (14 g per slice)

Beans (black beans 116 g 1 cup serving)

Veggies with a higher carb intake : Brussels Sprouts 8 g, Kale 6 g, Med. Zucchini 6 g.

 

VEGGIES 

Brussel Sprouts

Broccoli

Cauliflower

Collards

Kale

Spinach

Lemon grass

Winter Squash

Green beans

Mushrooms

Bell Peppers, GREEN, RED, YELLOW, ORANGE.

Carrots

Onion

Squash

Zucchini

 

&HEALTHIER FATS THAT I USE FOR SNACKS

Peanut butter, fruits, hard boiled eggs, turkey jerky, protein bars/shake, nuts; cashews, almonds, walnuts.

 

I always have at the least one from each category as a meal.

Here is my example of what I eat in one day.

Breakfast: Overnight oats, 1/4 Almond milk, 1/2 greek yogurt, 1 tbsp flax seeds, 1 tbsp chai seeds, 1/2 pr 1 tbsp of peanut butter, sprinkle of chopped walnuts or pecans and sliced up banana. With a protein shake not too long after.

Snack: Peanut butter and celery sticks.

Lunch: Baked chicken breast, side of brown rice, and brussel sprouts. And a side salads. I LOVE MY SALADS 🙂

Snack: A serving of Cashews.

Dinner:  Same as lunch.

I really hope this helps you out with making your meals for the week! Also, really understanding whats digesting in your body. Our bodies were design to eat these foods. When your body aches, feels heavy or uncomfortable its mainly because we’re not feeding it correctly. Try changing your diet up to a more clean food based lifestyle and I can guarantee you will feel and see changes.

As always, Jess <3

 

Favorite 8 Pull Exercises

I can honestly say Pull is my favorite gym day!! Not sure exactly why, but I just feel badass pulling heavy weight! As simple as that? Pull ups are my absolute favorite, each one I can truly feel myself growing and I just never want to stop haha!

When you’re working on pull, you are working your back/back of shoulders and biceps. You grow these muscles by simply using the pulling motion in your exercise. Here are 8 of my favorite pull work outs I do.

I want to post pictures of examples, until then please message me with any questions so that I can go more in depth with which ever work out.

  1. Neutral Grip Lat Pulldown (2 handles) 10 Reps x4
  2. Neutral Grip High Row 10 Reps x4
  3. Wide Grip Lat Pulldown 10 Reps x4
  4. Low Row (2 hands) 10 Reps x4
  5. Cable Curl (single arm) 10 Reps each x4
  6. Standing Cable Curls with a low pulley 10 Reps x4
  7. Pull Ups (My FAVE!) 12 Reps x4
  8. Rotating Dumbell Curls Neutral Grip to Pronated Grip 10 Reps x4

Favorite 8 Push Exercises

When I first started working out I really didn’t know where to start. I found myself on the treadmill often, which is fine if you are looking to drop weight. However, I didn’t physically know what else to do, how to properly use machines, what part of the gym I should be using. It all actually sounds pretty silly now but its true, I wasn’t confident at all! Well that finally changed. Now that we have Google, Pinterest, etc… It’s easy to learn and teach yourself. So I’m hoping I can add to that. I’m going to be posting some of my favorite work outs I do. If you want to follow along go for it 😉

A Push exercise will train all of your upper body muscles by using the pushing motion. This will be working your chest, shoulders and triceps.

Depending on the weight you will be using, your reps and sets may differ than mine since everybody is different.

  1. Stability Ball Chest Press 15 Reps x3
  2. Standing Military Press SG 15 Reps x3
  3. Resistance Band Press 15 Reps x3
  4. Inclined Alternating Dumbell Press 20 Reps x3
  5. Seated Alternating Dumbell Press 20 Reps x3
  6. Hammer Strength Shoulder Press 10 Reps X3
  7. Hammer Strength Chest Press 10 Reps x3
  8. Tricep Extension 10 Reps x4