How to Meal Prep for Week Night Dinners!

Are you a very busy person and have a hard time putting together nutritious dinners fast on week nights? Do you turn to convience foods and fast food to just to grab a quick dinner and get on with the day? We can change that! Making a nutritious dinner for you and your family, or roommate if you're a college student like me, doesn't have to take hours to prepare. Making home cooked meals saves you money, and can become a family activity every one can take part in. Kids are more likely to eat and try new things if they help make the food and know how it is prepared. This could be the end of a picky eater! Another thing that helps assure you're eating more nutritious foods and getting family time is eating dinner around a table together at the same time. Step away from the TV and the couch and enjoy a meal together. Enjoy each other's coompany and converstation and help each other make healthy choices together.

Here is your 1 week meal plan, complete with entrees, along with great sides that will accopany the main dishes. Most of the meals can be prepped ahead of time and sit in the fridge or the freezer until it's ready to be cooked and ate.

Recipes are in the links provided

Day1- Spicy Turkey Meat Loaf with Ketchup Topping

http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/spicy-turkey-meat-loaf-with-ketchup-topping

Meatloaf can be made ahead of time and popped in the oven when going to eat. Doesn’t have to be made the day before eating! 

Vegetable- Sauteed Zucchini and Yellow sSquash. Slice zucchini and squash (can be done ahead of time), season with desired seasonings and saute with olive oil until translucent over medium heat

Starch- Garlic mashed potatoes

http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/garlic-mashed-potatoes-6

Although they cannot be made ahead of time, simple and easy prep

Day 2- Black Bean Burger

http://theroadtobeinganrd.blogspot.com/2016/08/meal-prep-for-busy-days.html

Double recipe for 4 burgers

Can be made ahead of time and stored in the fridge or freezer till use

Fries can be made and cooked with burgers are cooking.

Day 3- Chicken Taco Salad

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ree-drummond/chicken-taco-salad.html

Chicken can be cooked ahead of time, along with the vegetables being cut and prepared. Dressing can be made ahead of time as well. Left over beans and corn from the burgers can also be thrown on the salad.

Pair with baked tortilla chips and salsa

Day 4- Sweet Orange Salmon with Steamed Green Beans and Brown Rice

http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/sweet-orange-salmon

Spices for the salmon can be combined and set aside ahead of time and then rubbed onto the fish before cooking

Green beans can be trimmed ahead and stored in a refrigerator, and while fish is cooking, rice can be made. If salmon isn’t your favorite, any fish can be substituted

Day 5- Crock Pot Pot Roast

http://www.food.com/recipe/to-die-for-crock-pot-roast-27208

Throw everything into the pot before work and come home to a meal waiting for you!

  

All of the entrees can be prepped ahead of time and stored in the fridge or freezer until use. Maybe make this a sunday afternoon activity for the whole family! 

Waist Circumference and Your Health

Some people are very fixated on what the scale says. They believe that if they are a certain weight, that they are unhealthy and that they are worthless and need a change. A scale is just a machine. It measures the force of gravity you exert on the earth. A number does not define you. Yes, I believe that everyone should live healthy and active lifestyles, but you don't need to tie a number to your health. I already know that when I am a practicing dietitian, I will not be weighing my patients unless it is absolutely necessary. People fear going to the doctor because they do not want to know what they weigh or what a doctor will say about their weight. We can make changes without tying a number to ourselves. By simply focusing on our eating and health habits, we can achieve goals. I personally do not step on the scale unless I absolutely need to. A better way to gauge health is to do waist circumference. Women should strive to have a waist circumference of 35 inches at most and men should have a waist circumference of 40 inches at most. Waist circumference can be a good predictor for being overweight and obese, and can help dietitians predict if you more likely to develop a disease. There are two main types of adiposity, Central adiposity and Gynoid adipostiy. Central adipostity is excessive amounts of fat around the abdominal area. When there is a significant amount of fat in the abdominal region, there is a significantly higher risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and hypertension. Less harmful but still bad is Gynoid adipostiy. This is where fat deposits around the hips and glutes; less harmful but still an issue. These two types help dietitians and physicians to describe where fat is gathering and storing on the body. Gauging waist circumference and adipostiy type can help you and a dietitian figure out an action plan to achieve your goals and become healthier.  

         
Want to figure out how healthy you are without stepping on the scale? Try measuring your waist circumference and figure out where you stand! Need help reaching your goals and making a change? Message me and we can get you on the right track!

A Workout For You!

As promised in my last post, today I am sharing my personal workout routine. For a while, I would find workout routines that would look interesting on Pinterest and from Women's Health Magazine, but I realized that they weren't working the best for me nor they weren't targeting what I wanted to work on. We have been learning in my weight lifting class about program design and how to make an effective program for a variety of clients. My own personal goals are to Increase Strength and Tone a bit. If you have the same or similar goals as I do, I highly recommend giving this workout a try. I've been doing it for the past two weeks and I feel great and am starting to see some great results! Cardio is to be done 4 days of the week for only 30 minutes each day. I recommend doing 15 minutes of moderate cardio before starting the exercises and then doing the last 15 minutes of cardio after the exercises are complete. The cardio in the beginning helps to warm up the body and muscle to perform the exercises, and the 15 minutes of cardio at the end helps to decrease the likelihood of soreness the next day. The cardio can be walking, jogging, biking, the elliptical, the stepper machine or anything else that will boost your heart rate. Mixing cardio and weight training exercises helps to tone the body and burn fat, while promoting muscle growth and strength. Be sure to refuel after your workout with a good dose of carbohydrates and proteins to replenish your energy stores and support muscle growth and repair. My go-to post workout snack is always a big glass of skim milk and a piece of toast with peanut butter! If you're interested in getting a workout customized to your goals, message me with your goals! Happy Sweating!

DAY 1
Back and Biceps	SETS	REPS
Bicep DB Curl	4	12
DB Hammer Curl	4	12
Cable Curls	3	10
Incline Bench Curls	4	10
Bicep 21s	3	7
Wide Grip Lat Pulldowns	4	12
Narrow Grip Lat Pulldowns	4	12
Bent Over Barbell Row	4	12
Seated Row	4	12
Supermans	3	12
30 Minutes of Moderate Cardio

DAY 2
Legs	Sets	Reps
Smith Machine Squats	4	10
Smith Machine Hack Squats	4	10
Leg Press	4	10
DB Side Lunges	3	12
Russian Split Squats	3	12
Goblet Squats	4	12
Seated leg Curl	4	10
Leg Extensions	4	10
Hip Abductor	3	15
Hip Adductor	3	15
Seated Calf Raises	3	15
Stiff Leg Deadlifts	3	15
Standing Calf Raises	3	15

DAY 3
Chest and Triceps	Sets	Reps
DB Chest Press	4	10
DB Flies	4	12
Incline DB Chest Press	4	10
Incline DB Flies	4	10
Decline DB Chest Press	4	10
Overhead Tricep Extensions	3	15
Skullcrushers	3	12
Rope Tricep Pulldowns	4	10
Tricep Kick Backs	4	10
Bench Dips	3	15
30 Minutes of Moderate Cardio

DAY 4

OFF

DAY 5
Shoulders and Abs	Sets	Reps
Military Overhead Press	4	10
Lateral DB Raises	4	10
Arnold Press	4	12
Upright Rows	4	10
Farmers Carrys	4	20 sec
Bent Over Rear Delt Reverse Fly	3	12
Russian Twists	3	40
Leg Raises	3	15
Weighted Decline Sit Ups	3	20
Reverse Cruch	3	15
Oblique Crunches	3	20  Each Side
30 Minutes of Moderate Cardio

DAY 6
Total Body	Sets	Reps
Jumping Jacks	4	20
Burpees	4	10
Kettle Bell Swings	3	15
Single Leg Dead Lift	3	12
Squat with Upright Row	4	12
Box Jumps	3	15
45 Minutes of Moderate Exercise DAY 7 Off Try this program and tell me what you think!