Myth Two: Chips and snacks!

Last week I posted about the myths of clean eating! There are many misconceptions out there and many different opinions! I am not a nutrionist and what I tell you are my personal findings and opinions! Last week we talked about what clean eatings is NOT:

Clean Eating is not
Myth One: Veggies and Fruit
- Never eating any chips, pretzels, etc
- No sweets
- Everything should be served raw
- No carbs

This week is MYTH TWO:

There are a lot of clean snack foods out there! Yes, fresh is best! That doesn't mean that you can't snack! There are some great clean foods out there to snack on! The best thing to do is read the ingredient label! Some people live by the "5 ingredient" rule. As long as it is around 5 ingredients they consider it good to go! 

I like to read the ingredient label and as long as it is something I would normally cook with its okay. For example: I wouldn't put high fructose corn syrup in a dish I make at my house. That means I DO NOT buy the product! Even if it is more than 5 ingredients it is still okay! There are pretzels that I buy that are made with whole wheat and honey! There are pita chips made with whole wheat, salt, and other things I can find in my pantry. 

My two favorite snacks are:

Aussie Bites! It is a little round delicious ball of goodness full of different grains, seeds, and dried fruit! You can find them at Costco for $9.95. These bites are CLEAN and SNACK FOOD! 

I also like to make Kale chips! I purchase fresh kale, put some olive oil and salt on them, and throw them in the oven till they get a little crispy :) 

There are also granola bars, chips, and other snack foods that clean! 

Moral of the story: snacking is okay, in fact it is recommended in order to keep your metabolism up! 

Broken Phone?

I really needed this quote! I tend to "fall off the wagon" so to speak quite easily! Once I fall off, I am OFF! I think to myself, meh, I already ate poorly might as well keep it up! 

This is so true! If you drop your phone on the floor do you just keep smashing it till its broken!? NOOOO! So why do we fall of the wagon and let all the hard work go!? 

We will make mistakes, we will give in to that temptation! Its normal! We are human! Just because you give into the temptation at lunch doesn't mean dinner has to be McDonalds Big Mac too! 

Think about how hard you have worked! Think about all the time you put in at the gym! Think about all the donuts, ice cream, and fast food you passed up! Don't let one little mistake ruin everything you have worked for! 

Fitness Friday

Fitness Friday!! WOHOOO! Welcome to the Fitness Friday link up! This is where we can have some ACCOUNTABILITY! 

Link up with your workout for the Day, Days, Week? Give us some ideas of what your doing! Why you are doing it!? 

I have been doing Beast Body by Beachbody all week! It is intense! The dudes are ripped haha honestly a little to ripped if you ask me but hey, who am I to judge? 

Why they are lifting lots of weight I'm starting off at 5-10lbs :) But, hey, you have to start somewhere! 

Regardless I LOVE this workout! My arms are hurting, legs, everything! I cannot wait to be TONED! 

Also, make sure to take your starting weight and measurements! This will show you the process you are making! Although you may not be able to see it in weight right away you will be able to see it in your measurements! 

What workout are you doing? How you are keeping FIT? Link up below and share! 

Clean Eating

What is clean eating? There are SO many different opinions out there! Now, I am not nutritionist, but from what I have learned and read and experienced clean eating is cutting out process foods and eating "natural" things. 

Clean Eating is not:
- Only eating fruits and veggies
- Never eating any chips, pretzels, etc
- No sweets
- Everything should be served raw
- No carbs

Those are the major misconceptions I had about clean eating, buts its NOT TRUE! 

The next couple of blogposts I will dedicate to breaking the Myth! 

You DO NOT need to eat only fruits and veggies! Although they are definitely good for you, they are not the only thing your body needs! Especially if you are working out, your body NEEDS protein and carbs! Eating clean means that you are putting in GOOD fats, proteins, and carbs into your body! For example: I have a whole wheat piece of toast (complex carb) with one egg white and one whole egg (protein) and avocado (good fat) for breakfast every morning! I threw on some tomatoes for some extra flavor! 

As far as fruits and veggies go, try to buy them fresh! If frozen, they can lose some nutrients, but for the most part they are okay! I buy frozen vegetables sometimes because of the convince :) Canned veggies and canned fruit is not your best option! They can be full of salt and sugar to prevent the vegetable and fruit from going bad! 

Just remember: Fresh is better! 

What is your favorite breakfast? Favorite food? Is it clean? How could you make it clean!?

Coach Erica

Health.
Wellness.
Fitness.
Nutrition. 

These things I have struggled with FOR YEARS! I have battled an eating disorder, binge eating, yo-yo dieting. For the past ten years I have always felt self-conscious about my stomach and my arms. Anytime I take a picture I always pop my hand on my hip to make my arm look skinny! (girls, you know what pose I am talking about!) 

The only thing I have every found that worked and didn't require a HUGE change to my life has been Beachbody workouts. The workouts make sense, fit into my schedule, and can be done in my home in as little as 25 minutes. 

This was me at my heaviest, 180lbs. I am only 5'1" so that is a lot of weight on my body! I battles high blood pressure, which runs in my family. I had little energy, eating awful college food (okay it was actually good, but not good for me). 

After feeling awful, fatigued, taking blood pressure medicine daily, I decided to make a LIFESTYLE change. Not a diet, but a lifestyle change. I decided to eat "clean" and try the Beachbody Insanity workout. 

This was my result! 

I lost 19lbs and dropped two pant sizes in one month. I also was able to go off my blood pressure medicine! Now I can't promise these results for everyone, but I can tell you that Beachbody changed my life. 

I recently decided to be a Beachbody coach because it is something I can stand behind. I have seen the results! They work! Even after doing insanity I still wasn't sold with Beachbody. I went back to the gym to try new workouts. I tried working out with a friend, on my own, and even workout classes but I did not see the result that Beachboy had given me. 

 I would love to hear your stories? What programs work for you? What nutrition plans work for you? And if you need any help, advice, or anything I am here to offer you some free accountability and direct you to some great articles about changing your lifestyle! 

Join me in my FREE clean eating groups, challenge groups, and accountability groups or email with questions, comments, advice! We are all on this journey together! I recently started the Body Beast workout and am lifting weights and toning up! What are you currently doing to stay fit?

You only get one body in life! What are you going to do and put in yours? 

Dear New Teacher

Dear New Teacher,

Welcome to the world of teaching! You are definitely in the right profession if you are looking to make a difference. You are also in the right profession if you are trying to grow your patience level! I would like to share a list of things they may not have told you in college that will make you successful:

1) Fake it till you make it! You won't know what you are doing the first couple of days, weeks, or maybe months, but DO NOT, under any circumstance, DO NOT tell your students its your first year of teaching! Make yourself sound experienced! Tell them about your "teaching experience" (that means tell them about what you student taught or observed or did from pre-classroom hours) DO NOT tell them its your first year otherwise you are in for a ride the 179 days that are left! 

2) Set reminders about paperwork. Paperwork is the least fun job about being a teacher and for some reason colleges do not like to tell you about it. They don't tell you about all the information you need to fill out on IEPs, 504's, etc. So put it on your calendar so you have all the information you need to have done by its due date, including grades being due!! 

3) ASK QUESTIONS! You might be reading these wondering, what the heck is an IEP? ask! Don't assume anything! If you don't know, just ask, and if you think you know, ask. Always ask! 

4) You are going to have some AMAZING days when you will walk out of the room and think "yep, I just changed some lives in there!" but you will also have days of disappointment. If you are doing this teaching thing right you will have invested countless hours, energy, blood, sweat, and tears into your students and their lessons. When they don't get it, or don't care, or ruin it by talking back and  deciding to go bat-crazy that day you will be disappointed. That just means that you care! Go home, pour yourself a glass of wine, and wake up the next day with a fresh start! 

5) Don't hold grudges! Some days some students will upset you, and once again thats a good thing because it shows you care. Always go in with the mindset that tomorrow is a new day and give them a fresh start! I remember being very upset with one of my students who wasn't reaching her potential and completely wrote all over my desks, chairs, walls, cussed me out, just went absolutely nuts! The next day she walked in and I greeted her with a smile on my face. She asked me, "Miss, do you hate me?" I said, "No, I love you, why do you ask?" She responded with, "Well yesterday I was really mean to you, I would hate me." I told her, "Yesterday was a rough day for the both of us, but today is new and I know we are going to have a better day. It doesn't matter what happened yesterday, I still love you." 

You don't know what some of your students are going through. LOVE THEM! Forgive them, and start with a fresh day every day! 

The First Year Teacher

Don't get me wrong, I am NO expert. However, I recently finished my first year of teaching and I would love to share some insight for those of you who are about to experience yours, already did, or are in just need of a good laugh. 

There were some good times, bad times, success, failures, tears, smiles, and most importantly laughs. The thing I came to realize is that I actually had no idea what I was doing! My years of college, student teaching, and long-term subbing jobs did not adequately prepare me for what was about to come. The reassuring thing is that the experienced teachers didn't know what they were doing either.

Sure, some of them really knew their content and others knew how to fill out the excessive amounts of paper work that needed to be done; but the thing about working with students is that every year is different, every class is different, and every student is different. So what worked one year doesn't mean its necessarily going to work the following. Or what works in my first period doesn't mean its going to work the second. 

So you might be wondering; do teachers ever get this teaching thing figured out? The answer is no. Teachers are always learning, always growing, always trying to figure out the best method and balance of learning, laughing, and classroom management. 

So have no fear first year teachers! Every first day of school feels like the first year again. We are all in the same boat! When you walk into that room full of faces on the first day don't be alarmed if you realize you have no clue what you are going to do, because if all other teachers are being honest, they don't either ;)

* Side note: prepare a powerpoint! Those things are life savers full of information to share in case you truly have a brain fart and don't know what you are about to do! 

More tips, tricks, and stories to come!