It's about time...Let's do the TWO STEP

 

 

 

I know! We finally have a rain free sunny day! That means smoothies for lunch! YES!

Today I just felt like something that smacked of milkshake and not so much green smoothie. Yes, I am sure you know what I mean. I didn't feel like a salad or veggies, I just wanted something yummy, but that would not take a ton of preparation or make loads of dishes. It is Friday after all and I am getting ready to relax. ( After the week I have had... I need it! More on that LATER )

So here we go: Peanut butter and banana smoothie a la milkshake - except it does not contain dairy milk, but coconut milk.

STEP BY STEP,

The TWO STEP in fact....

Let the music begin.

STEP 1

Banana, Organic Peanut Butter, Organic Cocao Nibs

STEP 2

Add your coconut milk

 Don't forget to add ICE!

I added in a tiny amount of Agave, but this is an optional extra.

Pour and enjoy....

I poured and enjoyed and forgot to take a picture of the finished product! But it was delicious, light and hit the spot for a Friday afternoon treat without compromising my health.

Subscribe to Fitness Training for Life and Adventures

  

www.melonyteague.com 
To subscribe to my consolidated newsletter, Click here 
Melony Teague a freelance writer and columnist and motivator who lives in Canada with her husband and two young children.
Founder of "Secrets of Body Transformation from the Inside Out" 
Join me on facebook. 

Breakfast Pumpkin Smoothie

Ingredients:

1/4 cup pumpkin puree (Canned)
Ice cubes
1 tsp Pumpkin spice
1/2 tsp Ground Cinnamon
1 cup Coconut milk
2 tsp Coconut palm sugar (optional)
2 Tablespoons Unflavored Whey Isolate protein powder 
1 tsp Vanilla 

Method:

1.  Place Pumpkin and whey powder in your blender, 
2. Add spices, 
3. Add coconut milk and Vanilla (and Coconut Palm sugar if using)
4. Add ice cubes and blend until smooth.

 ENJOY!

Want a fast and easy way to have breakfast, then throw together this smoothie and take it with you in a smoothie cup.

This smoothie is rich in Vitamin A and vital antioxidants. It also contains vitamin K. Pumpkin puree also contains some fibre.

Cinnamon is not only tasty, but has many nutritional benefits. CLICK HERE to read more about that.

Grab a smoothie and go!

Subscribe to Fitness Training for Life and Adventures

  

www.melonyteague.com 
To subscribe to my consolidated newsletter, Click here 
Melony Teague a freelance writer and columnist and motivator who lives in Canada with her husband and two young children.
Founder of "Secrets of Body Transformation from the Inside Out" 
Join me on facebook. 

Subscribe to Fitness Training for Life and Adventures

Tip 3 from Igor and the dairy dilemma - Day 6

REPLACEMENT CHALLENGE - Day 6

 

Igor's Tip of the Day:

Tip 3: Tell everyone you know about what you're doing. It's one thing to share it online with anonymous strangers, but it's another thing to tell people that you see every day. To learn some other strategies to help you succeed, check out this article: http://www.torontofitnessonline.com/2012/04/30/how-stay-motivated/


To help you share with others what you are doing, you can share this page on facebook, or tweet about it by using the buttons at the bottom of the post. How about pinning it to your pinterest board? Whatever it is you are going to do to share your journey, do it now! And if you can't do it now, do it today and let me know you did it.






For a list of our current participants and their replacement foods CLICK HERE.

What is a dilema? Dictionary definition as follows:

di·lem·ma  

/diˈlemə/

Noun A situation in which a difficult choice has to be made between two or more alternatives, esp. equally undesirable ones. A difficult situation or problem.

Synonyms quandary - fix

I am in a quandary. Love that word. Here's why: 
One of my favorite meals is Steak topped with goat's milk cheese. One of our participants said that she had goat's milk feta cheese and so she had not had a dairy free day. My first reaction was to say that goat's milk is not dairy. My understanding was that the term "dairy" referred to bovine (cow) products. This got me thinking... a dangerous thing I know. So, I did some research, and this is what I came up with. Hold on to your hat, here we go:


Is Goat's milk and cheese dairy?
Up until today my answer would have been,"no," and my reasoning would have been that I consider anything BOVINE to be dairy and not goat and sheep. Upon delving into the subject in a little more detail however, I now consider goat and sheep's milk a good way to transition to NO DAIRY (unless of course you have an allergy or intolerance). 

First of all you have to look at the reasons why you are going dairy free. If you are going dairy free because you want to follow a vegan lifestyle, then goat and sheep milk is still a no-no for you. If you are doing it to avoid gut irritation, it may be better for you, but this is not true in all cases. 

At first, I thought that Goat's milk had no casien and lactose in it, but I have subsequently found out that this is not true. I recently had a conversation with a medical doctor about this very issue. He said that sometimes people who are allergic to cows milk can tolerate goat's milk, but it is not lactose and casien free. It does however have a lower amount of it and therefore can sometimes be tolerated, but in general if you have an allergy to cow's milk chances are you will have a reaction to goat's milk or sheep milk too. I strongly recommend that you get tested before making the switch and consult your doctor and allergist BEFORE you do so.   

How does this affect the 30 Day Challenge?

First off, examine why you are cutting out dairy.  

If you want to avoid the hormones and antibiotics found in milk, then that is one thing, (see this article when making your decision)  if your reason however, is to eat a plant based diet, then I suggest that you go for the plant based alternatives such as coconut milk, almond milk and organic soy milk. 

If you are following the Paleo Diet way of eating, you would not include soy. I very strongly suggest you have only ORGANIC soy because of the GMO risks associated with it.

So, back to the goat's milk, is it considered dairy? If you are putting it together with a group of beverages that come from an animal, then yes it is, if you are asking if it is bovine, no it's not. 

Should you replace your dairy products with goat's milk and goat's cheese? I would say that depends on what you are trying to achieve. Here is an article that might clarify things for you. 
It is called:

Does Goat Milk and Cheese Qualify as Dairy? What about Sheep Milk Products? and was posted by Posted on by Alisa Fleming in Ask Alisa, Nutrition Headlines

Although I have not read it yet, Alisa Fleming elaborates on this very subject in her book.   Alisa is the founder of GoDairyFree.org, Senior Editor for Allergic Living magazine, and author of the best-selling dairy-free book, Go Dairy Free: The Guide and Cookbook for Milk Allergies, Lactose Intolerance, and Casein-Free Living. Alisa is also a professional recipe creator and product ambassador for the natural food industry.

Here you will find a comprehensive list of dairy alternatives. Milk Alternatives and Dairy Free Beverages.   If you are on the challenge and you have chosen to go dairy free, you should really look at this page and see exactly what your options are.  

A word of caution: 

• If you are also trying to stay grain, white carbohydrates or sugar free, then rice milk is not a choice you should include in your diet. For those cutting out sugar, all alternatives should be unsweetened.
• If you are cutting out grains and wheat due to a sugar and carbohydrate intolerance, then choose almond and coconut milk instead. 
• If you are trying to lose weight and have cut out dairy because you believe dairy to be high in fat, that is a whole other subject. Then we have to discuss the low fat dairy options (such as cheese and yoghurt) with their fillers, artificial sweeteners, additives and debate whether it would be better off just to have the higher fat options without all the chemical additives. Again, it all boils down to what you want to achieve. 
• If you are concerned about fat content, then you have to put both products side by side and examine their nutritional information, weigh up the pro's and con's for each and decide. Look at the good and bad fats in both and decide which is better for you. Look at what nutrients are provided in each product and go from there.

This whole dilemma illustrates three things:

1. Every BODY is different and each person metabolizes and digests food differently.
2. Every BODY should make choices based on what is right for THEM and on what their bio-feedback is saying to them. 
3. Every BODY should do what they believe to be right given the evidence before them, based on the advice of nutritionists and health care providers. 

Believe me, opinions vary and you have to feel free to go with what you know and believe to be true at that time. If you have to change your opinion along the way, no biggie. Live and Learn.
Obviously if you have a severe allergic reaction to dairy, your body is telling you something loud and clear and you will know it.
Bear in mind, your body is as individual as you are, after all your DNA testifies to that, so you have to tailor your diet to what suits you best based on feelings of health and vitality. If you are eating something and it is making you lethargic or moody or feel ill in any way, then your body is trying to tell you something. Listen to it. Unfortunately often times the very things we crave are the things that are not good for us, unless of course you are craving carrots. It is also in eliminating these things for a short period of time that we can gauge the effects, if any, of any given food on our bodies.

Have you ever heard of a META decision? It is a decision that you make that eliminates many little decisions along the way. For example, instead of deciding that I will not eat chocolate, or candy, or potato chips or fries...each of them a separate decision, you decide that you will not eat junk food but choose healthier foods to fuel your body. This puts less stress on you, because all of those little decisions have already been decided under the big META decision to stay away from junk food. Your rationale is, "Is it junk food?" and if the answer is, "yes" then you simply walk away. There is no debate, not stress, no fuss.

Today you are going to make a META decision of your own. DAIRY or NO DAIRY? Okay so you don't have to make an "always and forever" decision, but at least think about it. There is some debate in the holistic nutrition world as to whether we were designed to have anything other than mother's milk. On one end of the spectrum it is acceptable to have any milk from any animal, and on the other, the argument is to avoid other animal's milk altogether. The point is that milk from an animal was created to feed the young and it has been suggested that as we get older we become less tolerant of lactose.

 
Skim milk generally has higher amounts of sodium in it than the higher fat milks, so be aware of that if you are on a low sodium diet, but I suggest you check your labels.

 You have to make a decision for yourself. I guess I am going to have to sit down and think about whether I am going to continue to stay bovine free or move to dairy free as defined above.  

The other thing to consider is this, if we choose to avoid milk because of the hormones and antibiotics etc, then should you and I also avoid the meat? According to EAT RIGHT ONTARIO these hormones do not cause harm to us, but are said to be beneficial. Read more about it here: Hormones and antibiotics in food production.  wherein they mention that in Canada, "growth hormones are only given to beef cattle (and not dairy cattle). There are no growth hormones used in poultry or pork production." and the good news is that they also say, "... if a cow is treated with antibiotics because of an infection, the milk they produce while being treated is not sold. When hens are given antibiotics, the eggs they lay are thrown away." In this article they say that Although growth hormones and antibiotics are considered safe for food production in Canada, they offer a few tips to reduce your exposure to these additives. The less chemical additives and preservatives we ingest, the better. 


The other concern is budget. Simply put, lactose-free or organic products are far more expensive than the regular milk you find in your grocery refrigerator section. Goat's milk is not cheap either. So can my budget withstand the stresses placed upon it if I choose to buy only organic milk for my family? 
 
Does this mean I have failed in my challenge because I had goat's cheese? 

No, it just means that we are on a journey of learning and discovery. On we go and the wonderful thing is that we can make adjustments along the way. 

Your lineage or origin may have something to do with how you tolerate milk and dairy. For instance if you are from Europe, you will have grown up on milk, cheese and yoghurt and your body may thrive when you have them and your ancestors ate these things for generations before you. Chances are, if you are Dutch, you can tolerate dairy well, but as I said before, every BODY is different. 

What are your alternatives?
If you are substituting a good, organic cheese for a soy substitute that has been modified and which does not resemble the "real thing" then you may want to consider your options. Are you really choosing a healthier option?  Especially if it tastes horrible!

Finally, if you are not getting your calcium from milk and dairy products, where are you getting your calcium from? Make sure you are getting it elsewhere in your diet together with vitamin D which will help with its absorption. Kale is a wonderful source of calcium. If you don't like to eat Kale you can try this: Dark Chocolate Smoothie, and you can increase the amount of Kale you add if you like.

 

Just remember, it is always advised to speak with a doctor before any change in diet. If you have any health concerns, consult a physician. None of the information provided within this website should supersede the advice of your physician.

Let me know your thoughts on the subject, I would love to hear from you.

P.S.  Don't forget to tell someone about your challenge!

www.melonyteague.com 
To subscribe to my consolidated newsletter, Click here 
Melony Teague a freelance writer and columnist who lives in Canada with her husband and two young children.
Founder of "Secrets of Body Transformation from the Inside Out" 
Join me on facebook. 

Enter your email address:


Delivered by FeedBurner

Celebrate with us!

Happy Anniversary to me, and

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to 

Fitnesstraniningforlifeandadventures.

To subscribe to this blog click here

This BLOG is one year old!

It all started a year ago when I started training with Igor Klibanov to ready me for a trip to Siberia in winter. You can read about it here. 
There was no waiting for "new year" to start on the nutrition plan and there was no waiting for after New Year to hit the gym. With only 8 weeks before the trip, I had no time to waste.

Some of the highlights of this year have been:
A New look at my morning coffee,  and I set foot in the gym for the first time in years, with a little bit of fear and trepidation. I started a nutritional program that brought me freedom from binging and sugar addiction. We discussed sleep and it's effect on you. In February we talked about surviving Valentine's day without damaging your healthy eating habit. We had some interesting "before and after" shots. Along the way we learned about Labels on foods and to identify hidden sugars and carbs. I went on my trip to Russia and saw Red Square, St. Basil's Cathedral (Moscow) and walked 11km across Lake Baikal in Siberia.

Moscow 2012 Christ the Savior Cathedral.

 Exploring how to have burgers without the bun was a load of fun! For me the biggest relevation was the effect sugar has on me, and I discovered that I was just like these rats. ARE YOU A RAT? Click here to find out. On my birthday I had a sugar free cake, and it was delicious! (more like an ice- cream cake without the ice cream) Then I discovered smoothies and came up a few recipes of my own! This one was one of my favourites : Black Cherry and Swiss Chard Smoothie and we discussed the merits of mint.
Oodles of noodles in a tutorial on how to make zucchini noodles. The flour and sugar free brownies were a hit. We discussed the flinch effect and and the sugar cycle. I posted my thoughts while sitting on a park bench. October saw many recipes with pumpkin including a pumpkin spice Latte. Then I introduced Spelt to my diet and came up with this delicious french toast.
When it got too chilly for icy smoothies, I came up with a post workout alternative! POWER PUDDING!

November saw a great result in the TOP 25 Blogs competition. Thanks again for all your support!
To follow up with this we had a 30 Day Challenge which got us moving, accountable and 15 ladies participated from all over the world.

So we come to the end of a year and it has been quite a journey. No I do not eat perfectly all the time, I am not a health freak, I just like to make the best choices I can for my health and happiness. Yes I sometimes stumble and eat things that are not the best for me, but I no longer lose control because I now know about the chemistry processes that go on in my body and how they effect my metabolism. Prevention is a good weapon against the fight against unhealthy habits and if you see imperfect eating as just a little slip and put it behind you and move on, learning from your experiences then you can get over the  "I have messed up, I might as well eat badly for the rest of the say and start again tomorrow" mentality.   I have learnt not to fall for that one anymore! Make your choices one at a time! You don't win them all, but you certainly don't have to give up just because you slip up once. Be compassionate to yourself, we are in it for the long haul, it is about a lifestyle that is sustainable.

As we get to the end of the year this is my wish for you:

May you have a wonderful start to the New Year.

Christmas Fruit Tree! 

www.melonyteague.com 
To subscribe to my consolidated newsletter, Click here 
Melony Teague a freelance writer and columnist who lives in Canada with her husband and two young children.
Founder of "Secrets of Body Transformation from the Inside Out" 
Join me on facebook.  

Coco What?

I had never in my life heard of such a thing as a "young coconut"...my idea of coconut was the stuff you found in a nice little package in the baking isle in the grocery store. That was until I started drinking unsweetened coconut milk, using canned coconut milk and coconut oil. Wow, to think that a year ago none of these things (besides the baking isle stuff) could be found in my kitchen. A little indication of how things have changed perhaps?

So my latest forrey into the world of trying new things was when I picked up a nice young coconut. To be honest it sat on my counter for a couple of weeks becasue I just didn't know what to do it it. I knew enough to know that it was healthy and rather something that you can't get everyday here in Canada, so when I saw it at the grocery store I snapped it up, not really knowing what I was going to do with it. Thank you so much for "google" because without it, my dear little coconuts would be rotting on my counter top. For those of you, ( like me) who have no idea what I am talking about, watch this video on how to crack open a young Thai coconut. Even if you know what they are, I tried this method and it is extremely easy and hassle free. I would suggest chilling the coconut before using it for a smoothie.  Below is a photo of what it looks like.

Young Thai Coconut

CLICK HERE TO WATCH VIDEO ON HOW TO CUT OPEN A YOUNG COCONUT

This video is the best I saw, no cleaver needed and it was quick and easy. Once I cracked it open I poured the liquid into my blender, scraped out the tender flesh with the spoon, without even having to crack open the shell. It was so easy, you don't have to wait two weeks to tackle it like I did. Here's the smoothie recipe:

Young Coconut Smoothie

Ingredients:

 Flesh and liquid of one young coconut
1 frozen banana
1/2 cup Aurthur's Pineapple Coconut Juice ( I used the coconut but you can use whatever flavour you like) 
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 cup ice cubes (more or less as needed)
1 cube frozen spinach
1 drop stevia liquid.

Method:

1.  Crack open the young coconut and empty out the liquid into your blender
2. Scrape out the tender flesh and clean off the brown "skin" and put in blender
3. Add juices, frozen banana and spices together with the frozen spinach and Stevia. Add Ice  cubes and blend.
4. Blend until smooth.

Serves 2 

Health benefits of this wonderful fruit are numerous, one of them being that the coconut milk is the highest form of electrolytes known to man. (This is according to this site) That little piece of information is handy to know in case you are suffering from dehydration. Next time  you see them in the grocery store, why not snatch one up and give it a try. They are better chilled in my opinion.

Comment below or email me.

By Melony Teague

By Melony Teague
© All Right Reserved

 www.melonyteague.com 

To subscribe to my consolidated newsletter, Click here 
Melony Teague a freelance writer and columnist who lives in Canada with her husband and two young children.
Founder of "Secrets of Body Transformation from the Inside Out" 
Join me on facebook.