I have moved

Hello beautiful people! 

  
I have been enjoying blogging for the past 7 months and I have met some amazing people through the blogging community. Even though I am still learning a lot, with the support and help from my husband I have decided to upgrade and self host.  My website domain is still the same but it’s now hosted through me. I apologize for the lack of posts, I have some great posts coming up for you all but all of my time and energy has been focused on this merge that has not been easy a it sounded when I first decided to go with this. I want to thank my followers and especially some of you regular ones that have been supporting me. I hope to see you all on the other side. You can follow me on social media as well for updates. 

 

Healthy Mom in a Busy World

 

Healthier snacking while at work or on the go

Hello beautiful people,

I wanted to share with you some of my favorite snacks to keep at work if I get munchies or hungry. Some of these I keep in my purse for on the go so I do not get trapped into bad eating. These change so that I do not get bored. But I just restocked the cabinet at work today so I figured to share with you.

1. Oat Fit maple and brown sugar oatmeal with flax. 100 calories 3g of protein, 12 g of fiber, 1g of sugar and 9% sodium.

2. Multigrain Rice Crackers with sea salt 130 cal, 2g of protein, 1g of sugar,  6% of sodium per 16 crackers. I sometimes eat these with freshly maid hummus.

3. Kale Chips 95 calories, 4g of protein, 4g of sugar, 12% sodium per half a bag. I buy these at Kroger sometimes but this specific one I bought at Marshalls for $3.99 and its the best one yet.

4. Dry Roasted Edamame 130 cal, 14g of protein, 8g of fiber, 1g of sugar, 3% sodium. This has 40% more protein than peanuts. Can be found here

5. Baked Goldfish Pretzel 130 cal, 3g of protein, less than 1g of sugar, 18% of sodium per 43 pieces.

6. Low Sodium Rice Cakes 40 calories, 1 gram of protein, and 0% sodium. I spread peanut butter on them with honey or raisins.

7. Pure Protein Bars 180-200 calories (varies by flavor of bar) 19-22g of protein, 3g of sugar, 2g of fiber, 4% sodium. I love these. I have them for breakfast with coffee, post workout, or when I am really hungry but will not be home to eat soon enough lol. I always carry one in my purse. I get a variety pack here.

8. Apples I always have an apple around. I snack on them all the time. I sometimes slice them and dip into peanut butter.

9. Earth Balance natural peanut butter and flaxseed 190 cal, 2g of sugar, 7g of protein per 2 Tbsp of serving. Its high in Omega-3. I spread this on my rice cakes, dip my apples in it or just eat a spoon of it alone 🙂 Buy at Kroger or here.

10. Dark chocolate I LOVE chocolate. Its worth every penny to me to get good quality chocolate. This one is 170 cal, 2g of protein, 0 % sodium. I have this when I have a really sweet tooth, its gluten and dairy free. No artificial anything. I love it! I am a firm believe in you get what you pay for, same goes for good tasting food. I buy this at Kroger for $1.97 or a box of 12 on amazon for $6.30 here.

11. Horizon low fat organic milk for my morning cereal days. I buy this for the kids too since it doesn’t have to be refrigerated, good for lunchboxes and travel. I buy it at Kroger when they have 10 for $10 or on Amazon here.

If you have Amazon prime and plan ahead you can always get better deals on healthier food. We order a lot of our stuff through amazon.

  
  

I also bring fresh vegetables and fruits and keep them in the fridge.

What do you guys like to snack on?

Zucchini Pancakes

Hello beautiful people!

Last night I made zucchini pancakes and thought I’d share the recipe with you lovelies.

http://www.healthymominabusyworld.com

2 medium to large zucchini’s washed and grated, you may peel skin if you wish
2 tablespoons grated sweet or red onion
2 medium to large eggs lightly beaten
7 tablespoons of flour
2 tablespoons of grated parmesan
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1 teaspoon of kosher salt
black pepper to taste (some people like a lot I used 1/2 teaspoon)

Grate the zucchini into a bowl. Immediately stir in the onions and eggs. Stir in the flour, baking soda, salt and pepper. Mix well then had parmesan and stir. Heat a large skillet over medium heat with non-stick spray. When the skillet is hot lower heat to medium-low and drop heaping soup spoon of batter into skillet. Cook the pancakes about 2 minutes on each side. Spray the skillet each time before adding batter. Place the pancakes on a sheet pan and put in over for  about 10 minutes. (Pre-heat over to 325). Serve warm with sour cream or tzatziki sauce. 

DIY quick tzatziki sauce
2 cucumbers peeled and seeded
1 tablespoon of fresh dill (you can use dry if you want, tasted better fresh)
2 cloves of garlic
1 1/2 cup of plain greek yogurt
1 teaspoon of olive oil
salt and pepper (EVEN BETTER is dry ranch)
Place all into a food processor or a bullet if you have one and pulse.

I work out but I am not loosing weight?!

Hello beautiful people!

I have been asked by a few of the readers how I lost weight after my recent post pregnancy post. Three people told me pretty much the same thing…”I work out but I don’t see any change so I get discouraged and just quit.”

  
First let me tell you that I am not a nutritionist (hopefully one day soon I will be) nor am I a  personal trainer. Whatever I share with you has been from my own personal experience, hard work, studying and research and what I have learned over the years. I will list 7 possible reasons why you may be stuck, but usually I find that a lot of people easily fall under the first reason.

1. You’re eating wrong foods If you are not loosing weight, the first place you should look into is the kitchen. I see a lot of people working hard at the gym to burn off calories than using that as an excuse to eat whatever they want. “I just worked out I can eat that,” when in reality you are being counter productive. Diet is 80% of your weight loss battle. The exact foods you should be eating depend mostly on your body type and metabolism, a good rule of thumb is to just stick to all natural whole foods. Eat all your natural sugars (fruits) in the morning. Eat your starchy carb foods (whole grains, potatoes, brown rice) on days you will to a heavy weight training and on cardio or light exercise days eat high protein (lots of lean meats, eggs, etc.) and vegetables. Avoid prepackaged foods and foods with ingredients you can not pronounce 🙂

2. You are eating too much If you already cleaned up your diet and you are still not loosing weight, it may be that you’re simply eating too much. In order to shed pounds your body needs to run a calorie deficit, meaning you need to burn more than you consume. I recommend using a food tracking app like MyFitnessPal to keep you on track.

3. You are doing too much cardio Yes you read that right!! Cardio is necessary and it keeps your heart healthy, boosts your metabolism, and gives you a good sweat (you should break one daily 🙂 ). However, only doing cardio or doing too much of it can actually add to the problem. Longer cardio sessions like staying on the elliptical or treadmill for 90 minutes or going for regular 5-mile runs can eat away at your lean muscle mass, which is essential for increasing your metabolism to burn more calories. Not to mention it dramatically increases your appetite, making you more susceptible to unnecessary snacking or overeating. Instead try doing 20-25 minute cardio then lifting weights or body weight exercises or just a good HIIT session. PopSugar Fitness on YouTube has awesome HIIT workouts you can do at home. They are short workouts but highly effective.

4. You are not lifting weights This one goes in hand with # 3. I am not saying you can not or should not do cardio. If you run purely for enjoyment of running (I DO) than by all means continue. But if your primary goal is fat loss, there are other forms of exercise that give a much better and quicker results. The best way to loose weight and gain lean muscle is to do some sort of strength training in addition to your cardio.

5.You are not working hard enough Your workouts should be intensity dependent, not time dependent. Keep this fact in mind: the harder you work the shorter your workouts time may be. That’s why again I favor the HIIT technique mostly. It’s so important to maximize your time spent in the gym or fitness class so you can achieve that coveted ‘afterburn’ effect which keeps your metabolism revved for 24-48 hours afterward. Don’t waste your time chatting with a friend at the gym and do no rest too long between workout sets.

6.You are not taking time to recover Recovery and rest are often more important than the workout itself. It’s during those periods that your body does most of the actual fat burning. So give yourself that time to fully recover so you’re ready to work hard the following day. Most importantly, listen to your body. Push yourself, but also give it some love, too.

7.Your body is under too much stress
Exercise is a stressor on your body. When you have a good healthy balance of exercise related stress and recovery time, your body is healthy and can loose its excess fat. Not giving your body enough time to recover can also be a negative  as you’ll start to produce an excessive amount of cortisol, a stress hormone. However, when your body is exposed to cortisol for longer periods of time, it starts to cause negative effects, like stubborn fat in areas you don’t want. Exercise isn’t the only stressor that can produce excess cortisol. A very stressful personal or professional life can also make your body produce too much of this hormone. Make sure you’re keeping your mental and emotional health in check in addition to your physical health. Always work on total body wellness.

I hope that this post helps some of you get over your weight loss plateau. I love that you guys ask me questions via Facebook, it provides me with great writing material for all of my readers, so please keep the questions coming. If you do not already follow me on Facebook you can do so here.

Til next time ❤ Maya