First, a quick note on PROTEIN itself…

The protein you eat gets broken down into amino acids, but different foods provide different combinations of amino acids and not every food contains all the essential amino acids. Of the 20 some amino acids, there are 9 that the body cannot make on its own and must get from dietary sources. These 9 are called the “essential amino acids.”

Without adequate consumption of all of the essential amino acids, the body may break down healthy tissue like muscle tissue to obtain the amino acids needed to perform essential functions like making energy, enzymes, neurotransmitters, hormones and its immune response role. And you don’t want your muscle breaking down just because you’re not eating properly.

Maintaining your muscle as you age is an essential piece in remaining strong, mobile and healthy.

While your workouts certainly support the production of muscle, unless you are fueling them appropriately they simply will not respond and your body composition may trend in the direction of more fat, less muscle rather than more muscle, less fat. If you’re curious about how muscle works (and how to take care of it), I put together a comprehensive article I consider essential reading for all active women right here.

Unlike fat and carbohydrates, which the body can store easily for later use in the liver and fat cells, the body doesn’t store amino acids for later use – which is why it’s important to include protein regularly throughout the day in your meals.

1. Protein powders

My organic protein powders (like Vanilla Protein and Berry Green Protein) make great shakes and smoothies and you can bake with them. One of the things I recommend avoiding in your protein powders is added sugars. Mine use organic stevia or organic monk fruit to naturally sweeten the powder without adding sugar to your body.

They are excellent sources of dietary protein (your body treats them just like food where it breaks it down to amino acids) and can boost your overall daily intake of essential amino acids – and in the case of the Berry Green Protein, broaden the spectrum of greens you’re accessing as well.

Because we don’t absorb amino acids as readily as we age, it’s ideal to increase your overall daily intake once you’re over 40.

The recommendation for active women under 40 is approximately 20-30 grams of protein per meal. If you’re over 40, it’s recommended to increase your serving to  30-40 grams per meal, consistent with what I’ve been told by doctors who work in the exercise field. Listen to this episode with Dr. Gabrielle Lyon if you’re interested in more on these recommendations.

I also encourage you to listen to the 2-part podcast series with Dr. Stacy Sims in which we discuss training with your cycle, post-menopause, and women specific nutrition and training tips. You’ll hear us talk a lot about protein and the importance of it, all framed within a conversation about your health and life cycle.

While getting 30 grams of protein in a meal may feel daunting at first, I recommend looking at your overall intake for the day and seeing how you might boost that with the addition of a quality supplement like mine.

For instance, making a smoothie or a shake with a serving (or even a serving and a half to two servings) of your protein powder can boost your overall intake of amino acids for the day.

Simple recipes like protein pancakes or protein waffles are also a great way to get some extra protein in – just boost the ingredients by adding a serving of protein powder. It can be challenging to get enough protein in without a little help and this is really something to pay attention to, especially if you’re active.

A note on baking with protein powder: Keep in mind that protein powders, like flour substitutes, cannot be just swapped into a recipe without some testing and care. The base of what a protein powder is made from will affect your recipe. One thing you’ll notice in my meal plans and recipes here on the blog is that if protein powder is called for I’ve used my own but I’ve given you the equivalent amount in GRAMS, so you can measure your own protein powder the same way.

While I always recommend using my protein powder in my recipes, that’s not always possible and I want you to have options to test. A “serving” of one protein powder may be a different amount than another brand’s serving, because the ingredients may not all be as concentrated or they may have other ingredients as well (such as greens, or other foods). That’s why I recommend you start with the gram equivalent, and then experiment from there. I cannot guarantee that my recipes, tested with my own brand, will work with every other protein powder out there, even if you do match the grams but this is a good starting point.

If you’re not using my protein powders (which are organic and plant-based), please read this guide I created to help you in choosing a good protein powder for yourself.

2. Collagen peptides

Collagen contains quite a few amino acids, but 3 particularly in abundance and they specifically support bone, skin, and joint health. Collagen is NOT a “protein” in the sense that it doesn’t have all the essential amino acids your body can’t make on its own, and you can’t count it towards your daily protein intake.

However it is an excellent supplement, and the reason I take it is for its support to my joints, skin and bone health. I do consider it a BONUS supplement, so if you’re on a budget, prioritize a high quality protein powder, like my Berry Green Protein or I Vanilla protein powder.

Collagen used to make its way into our diets through foods like bone broths, slow-cooked organ meats, kidney pies, baked beef hearts, whole crustaceans, and whole-fish soups and stews. But if you’re not regularly eating these types of foods, you may not be getting any of this goodness into your body.

When it comes to choosing a collagen peptide, I’m picky and hate it when they have an odor, or don’t really mix into anything. The Full Body Collagen I make is so fine you can stir it into a glass of water and see it fully dissolve – and it won’t leave a smell or taste behind, making it very versatile.

3. Amino Acids – BCAA’s, EAA’s and free form amino acids

Rock and Restore is another one that I would call “bonus supplement.” First and foremost, it contains all the essential amino acids (EAA’s). Secondly, they are in a “free form” which means they are ready for absorption right away by your body, rather than what happens when you eat dietary protein or a protein powder – those have to be broken down by the body into their amino acids first before absorption.

Within Rock and Restore you have all the essential aminos, which include the branch chain aminos (BCAA’s).  The branch-chain amino acids are some of the best known essential amino acids because of their ability to support muscle growth, muscle repair and recovery.

Rock and Restore contains all 3 branch-chain amino acids, including the optimal dose of leucine, considered the most anabolic of the BCAA’s – meaning it promotes muscle protein synthesis.

I drink this during my workouts to help prevent muscle protein breakdown, speed up my recovery, and as an active woman over 40 I want to ensure I’m getting adequate amino acids into my body. Personally, I like to add a serving of collagen to my workout drink because it’s such a convenient way to get the collagen peptides in as well. You can use this on non-workout days as well if you like, it is a very versatile and supportive drink that will boost your amino acid intake.

Check out my cute shaker bottles that will keep you Betty Rocking and feeling good doing it!

I say this is a BONUS supplement because you should first and foremost be prioritizing dietary protein – first from food, and then additionally with a quality protein powder to increase your intake to an acceptable range for your age.

If you would like to see and hear me explain this and give a broader overview on how you can use this information and put it into practice, watch this livestream.

I talk about:

• the best time to exercise
• body composition and weight
• training tips with your menstrual cycle
• training tips in peri or post menopause
• how protein supports your body
• how to use protein powder, collagen peptides and free form amino acids
• where the 4 pillars of health fit in
• the importance of our mental health
• self loving actions and words

I hope this was helpful, and please let me know if you have any questions!

The post When and How to Use My Protein Powders, Collagen, and Rock and Restore Aminos appeared first on The Betty Rocker.

Oats are a fantastic source of carbohydrates – the kind that leave you with lasting energy and digest slowly. They’ve got soluble, insoluble and prebiotic fiber – all excellent for your gut health.

Soluble fiber helps you feel full longer, stabilizes blood sugar, and promotes healthy bowel function. Prebiotics are non-digestible parts of foods that feed the good gut bacteria in our digestive system, and promote the health benefits of probiotics.

You’ll see so many kinds of oats in the grocery store that it can be a little confusing.

There are whole oat groats, steel cut (or Irish) oats, Scottish oats, rolled or old fashioned oats, quick oats, instant oats, oat bran and oat flour.

• Whole oats: All oats start off as oat groats which is the whole, unbroken grains. The hull has been removed, but every other part of the oat is intact.
• Steel cut (Irish) oats are the product of when the whole oat groat is cut into several pieces with a steel cutter. This is the kind I typically make overnight oatmeal out of. They feel hard and look like small pebbles. They contain the most fiber, and benefit from the overnight soaking method so they absorb water, soften and then cook quickly the next day (using the process described here) so you can easily digest them while still getting all the fiber and other healthful nutrients.
• Scottish oats are stone-ground whole oats, often made into porridge.
• Rolled oats or old-fashioned oats are the product of when the oat groat is steamed, then rolled flat between steel rollers. Manufacturers vary in how thick they are rolled, but they all look similar (see below). This is probably the one you have seen the most.
• Instant oats or quick oats are the most processed. Once the whole oat is steamed and rolled, they are then pre-cooked, dried, and then chopped. That means they’ll cook quickly – but they will not have as much fiber as the less processed variants. You’ll also notice that many of the “quick oats” that come in packets have other additives like sugar and flavors so you have to consider whether the shortcut is worth it.
• Oat Bran is actually a byproduct of the manufacturing process. It’s the outer layer of the oat groat.
• Oat Flour is finely ground rolled oats.

The more grains are processed, the less vital nutrients and fiber the whole grain contains.

And we want that fiber! It’s fiber that allows for a slow, steady release of energy after you eat the oats, and it’s fiber that stabilizes your blood sugar. Not to mention, fiber is essential for good gut health and a healthy digestive system.

You may have heard that grains cause digestive issues – and they can when eaten without mindful preparation. Grains naturally contain a variety of enzyme inhibitors that can interfere with digestion and put stress on the pancreas, sugar complexes the body can’t break down, hard-to-digest proteins like gluten, and irritating tannins.

These substances are not meant to harm us – they are simply part of the plants’ protection adaptations to prevent premature sprouting – but they can have harmful side effects if consumed in large quantities over time.

So what to do? Well, to make grains easier for our system to process so we can utilize all of their wonderful nutrients and energy, we simply need to take simple steps to remove those substances by preparing them in a way that imitates nature’s process: they need a little warmth, a little time, and a bit of acidity to sprout properly.

Soak, Sprout or Ferment

This brings us to a step you can use to prepare your whole grains, rooted in ancient traditions from around the globe. Our ancestors knew what modern society seems to have forgotten: that soaked, sprouted and fermented whole grains reap bigger benefits!

Soaking, sprouting or fermenting your whole grains (and in the case of oats, I’m talking about the steel cut form of whole oats, not the rolled or quick oats) for as little as 7 hours allows for the breakdown of the harder to digest outer protective coating of the grain, the neutralization of enzyme inhibitors, and the dismantling of the complex gluten-protein (in gluten-containing grains) into simpler components, all of which add up to easier digestion, increased nutrient intake, and more energy.

This is what’s behind all the “overnight oatmeal” recipes you’ll find on my blog and meal plans.

Including this prep step also adds beneficial enzymes to the grain, noticeably increasing the amount of B vitamins (which have a host of benefits, like helping us convert food into fuel!)

What’s more, soaking effectively begins pre-digestion of a grain so that your body doesn’t have to struggle with handling it, and can focus on enjoying that long-lasting, stable energy you get instead.

You can actually find sprouted quinoa, sprouted cereals, and even sprouted oats in some grocery stores, as this concept has become a little more mainstream. That can save you the extra step of soaking overnight, but just be sure you’re ok with added sugars or flavors (in the case of cereals or pre made products from sprouted grains).

It’s absolutely okay to eat your grains unsoaked, unsprouted and or not fermented – it may not bother your system at all. But these simple and accessible cooking practices can support your digestive system and when you pre-soak, your cooking time is reduced – saving you time in the long run.

I go for the steel cut oats because they contain the most fiber, the most nutrients and then use the soaking method because it gives my body access to the least processed, most nutrient dense form of the oat.

You’ll probably see other “overnight oatmeal” recipes that are more about soaking rolled oats overnight in yogurt or milk with spices and fruit. Those are tasty, but not what I’m talking about when I’m recommending the soaking method overnight.

Soaking Method for Overnight Oatmeal:

• 1 cup steel-cut oats
• 3-3.5 cups water (divided)
• 2 T acidic medium (lemon juice (I use this most commonly), apple cider vinegar, yogurt for example)

1. Place oats in a bowl and cover with 2 cups of water and acidic medium.
2. Cover and allow to sit at room temperature for 7 hours, or overnight.
3. Rinse and drain, then cook on the stovetop with 1-1.5 cups of fresh water until the water is fully absorbed and oats are an even consistency.

Delicious recipes made with overnight oatmeal: 

• Peanut Butter Baked Oatmeal
• Unicorn Bowl
• Cinnamon Apple Spice Oatmeal

Looking for some help making healthy eating easy?
Take the quiz and find out your eating type!

The post Different Types of Oatmeal appeared first on The Betty Rocker.

Welcome to The Betty Rocker Show, the place to be to nourish your mind, love your body, and rock your life.

This one body we get is capable of so many amazing things. And it does them without us even having to think about them – which is why it’s so easy to take them for granted sometimes.

But if you’ve ever been sick, injured, or struggled with your health, you know how frustrating it can be to live in a body that doesn’t function at 100%.

In today’s episode, I’m joined by Dr. Terry Wahls, Institute for Functional Medicine Certified Practitioner and a clinical professor of medicine at the University of Iowa.

This remarkable doctor reversed the symptoms of multiple sclerosis that had her wheelchair bound for 4 years using a functional medicine and customized nutrition approach.

Many of the health-boosting strategies she used to heal herself are accessible, easily applicable, and can be done on a budget. In today’s episode, she’ll share her amazing journey as well as tips and techniques you can implement right away to enjoy better energy, better health, a fitter physique and a longer life!

In addition to teaching internal medicine residents in their primary care clinics, Dr. Wahls is an avid researcher with over 60 peer-reviewed scientific abstracts, posters, and papers. She is also the author of The Wahls Protocol, a therapeutic diet to help readers reclaim their health.

“From her site: I am a patient, a physician, a functional medicine practitioner, and I conduct research that examines how food and nutrients impact health. I have lectured around the world and often lecture in my own community at the local co-op. I am an educator and patient advocate, and I can help guide you with information and support that you can read and think deeply about to determine what feels right for you in your health journey.”

In this episode you’ll discover:

Dr. Wahls’ Story (2:01)

• Her Ted Talk (3M+ views)
• Her symptoms
• Multiple Sclerosis Diagnosis
• Her initial treatment course
• How she started to experiment on herself
• The role of mitochondria in our bodies
• Mitochondria supplements for disease
• Why she worked out everyday
• The Institute for Functional Medicine

Dr. Wahls’ Recovery (13:12)

• The Wahls Protocol
• Being able to ride her bike
• Why food is key
• The 4 Pillars of Health
• How we can take back control of our health

How to improve your immune system (18:38)

• Risk factors with Covid -19
• How to protect yourself during Covid- 19
• How to reduce inflammation
• How to improve your immune system
• Simple ways to reduce your stress levels
• The importance of eating nutrient dense foods

How eating gluten free can improve your health (23:00)

• Why it’s important to eat sprouted and soaked grains
• How gluten can cause leaky gut
• What is gluten?
• How gluten can lead to hidden inflammation in your body
• How gluten impacts your health

Dr. Wahls’ diet protocol (25:30)

• The top 3 inflammatory foods
• The importance of eating greens and vegetables
• How to do her diet protocol as a vegetarian
• How to do her diet protocol on a budget
• The importance of cooking your own food
• How you can be proactive with your health

The effects of overtraining (29:52)

• The concept of hormesis
• The importance of rest days

The importance of sulfur rich foods (31:20)

• The importance of glutathione
• How tolerance for sulfur varies from person to person
• Easy ways to include sulfur rich vegetables in your diet

The spectrum of eating styles (33:40)

• The evolution of human nutrition
• Why different things work for different people
• What to really pay attention to when it comes to your diet
• How Dr. Wahls develops her diet recommendations

The Wahls’ Protocol (37:27)

• Why she uses a NeuFit
• Dr. Wahls’ MS study
• Dr. Wahls’ Seminar
• A proactive approach to health
• Focusing on what you can control
• The all or something approach

Inside the food industry (45:08)

• The truth about processed foods
• Why gluten free foods aren’t necessarily healthy
• The politics of food
• Her published studies

The most important thing you can do right now (50:08)

• The importance of improving your self care
• Why you should focus on the quality of your diet
• The Wahls Protocol Diet Cheat Sheet
• The importance of exercise and movement

How to connect with Dr. Wahls (51:07)

• The Wahls Protocol Health Practitioner Certification
• Her Instagram: drterrywahls
• Her Facebook: Terry Wahls MD
• Dr. Wahls’ Website

Love The Betty Rocker Show? We do too! Share it with your friends, and subscribe on your favorite podcast player to be alerted when new shows drop!

Love The Betty Rocker Show? We do too!

Share it with your friends, and subscribe on your favorite podcast
player to be alerted when new shows drop!

ABOUT THE BETTY ROCKER SHOW:

Join me for open and thought provoking discussions about health, fitness, and how to stop undermining ourselves – and start taking meaningful action that makes us role models to others…

….and, listen in on my intimate conversations with amazing thought leaders, health care professionals, athletes and celebrities to learn their secrets and insights for overcoming life’s challenges, living longer, healthier, stronger and more #flawsome lives.

New shows are released on a weekly basis during each season of The Betty Rocker Show. Shows alternate between solo episodes with me, and interviews with guests.

Subscribe on your favorite player today!

The post Episode 8: Eating Right for the Long Term with Dr.Terry Wahls appeared first on The Betty Rocker.

Welcome to The Betty Rocker Show, the place to be to nourish your mind, love your body, and rock your life.

Different things work for different people at different times, and with our unique genetics, body types, goals and lifestyles, it’s important to experiment to discover what works the best for YOU.

In today’s episode which is part 2 of the “Seeing Results Faster” series, I’m digging into different eating strategies – what makes them work for some of us but not for others, and a few universal truths we can all apply to start seeing better results FASTER.

Here’s today’s show! Be sure to leave a review on your favorite podcast player.

In this episode you’ll discover:

How to get out of disordered eating habits (0:27)

• The impacts of social media and pop culture
• Why different things work for different people
• Comparison
• Not seeing results
• Food sensitivities
• Gut health, hormones, absorption
• Elimination diets
• The signals your body is sending you
• The most important thing to apply to yourself

What eating strategy is right for you? (3:50)

• Alicia’s Story
• Intermittent fasting
• The importance of protein
• Cravings
• What to look for in a protein powder
• Whole Betty Full Body Collagen

Why you might be gaining weight (7:50)

• Not eating all day
• Portion control
• Excess sugar
• The deprivation, reward cycle
• Feeling shame around eating

Experimenting with different approaches (9:45)

• Fueling your energy reserves for the day
• Unicorn Bowl Recipe
• Homemade Buckwheat Bread
• Importance of carbohydrates
• How blood sugar works
• Soaked and sprouted grains

The damaging impacts of added sugar (13:47)

• Processed vs. Whole foods
• Why fat free isn’t the best choice
• The importance of healthy fats
• How insulin works
• Insulin resistance
• Visceral fat accumulation
• Inflammation in the body
• Impacts on your skin

The calories and macronutrients of food (19:05)

• Macronutrients of food
• Micronutrients of food
• Counting calories as an eating strategy
• The importance of nutrient dense food

How to See Faster Results (22:03)

• Start small
• Pay attention to how you FEEL after eating
• Experiment with your diet
• Track what you’re doing right now
• All or something
• Empower yourself
• The 4 Pillars of Health

Love The Betty Rocker Show? We do too! Share it with your friends, and subscribe on your favorite podcast player to be alerted when new shows drop!

Love The Betty Rocker Show? We do too!

Share it with your friends, and subscribe on your favorite podcast
player to be alerted when new shows drop!

ABOUT THE BETTY ROCKER SHOW:

Join me for open and thought provoking discussions about health, fitness, and how to stop undermining ourselves – and start taking meaningful action that makes us role models to others…

….and, listen in on my intimate conversations with amazing thought leaders, health care professionals, athletes and celebrities to learn their secrets and insights for overcoming life’s challenges, living longer, healthier, stronger and more #flawsome lives.

New shows are released on a weekly basis during each season of The Betty Rocker Show. Shows alternate between solo episodes with me, and interviews with guests.

Subscribe on your favorite player today!

The post Episode 7: How to See Results Faster (part 2) appeared first on The Betty Rocker.

SLEEP. NUTRITION. STRESS MANAGEMENT. EXERCISE.

How we look and feel is a byproduct of how we treat ourselves, how we love ourselves and how we nourish ourselves.

Every time we eat, we’re creating the foundational shape and structure of our bodies. We literally are what we eat.

Sometimes, figuring out WHAT to eat can be a real struggle with all the competing information out there.

In my opinion, there’s no “one perfect diet.” There’s value in many of the different eating strategies – because different things work for different people at different times.

And there is value in self-experimentation, because figuring out what works for your body – and your lifestyle – isn’t a simple clear cut equation.

Despite their many differences, the one thing ALL the best eating strategies seem to agree on is that eating whole foods is the baseline for success.

That’s why I don’t argue or disagree that different dietary strategies are effective. One might work better for your specific lifestyle, one might work better because of the season of life you’re in, one might work better because of other compounding factors.

What it comes down to is:

• Does what you’re eating support your body with whole foods that give you good energy, clear skin, the fit physique you’re after AND….
• Does the practice of how you’re eating fit your lifestyle so it’s something sustainable?

I like to keep it simple, so I focus on what nutrients are in my foods, and strive to get them from the most natural sources possible in a way that fits my lifestyle.

This is the approach that I teach and use myself in the Body Fuel System. 

Here is exactly how I think through my healthy eating choices:

1. START WITH PROTEIN

When planning your meals for the day, start with your protein, add plenty of greens, then build your meal around that with whole food carbohydrates and/or fats, and eat to satisfaction.

Not every meal will have ALL the nutrients represented of course, but they should ALL contain protein, and all the nutrients should make an appearance over the course of a day.

• Getting in quality protein for your active lifestyle is essential for everything from supporting your muscle recovery and strength to your immune health.
• Because protein is more satisfying than fat or carbs, you’ll feel more full when you include it in adequate amounts and it can even reduce or eliminate cravings.

Preparing and eating enough protein can be time consuming, so a common shortcut is to supplement with a protein powder. This is exactly what I’ve done for years and it’s really helped me maintain my muscle tone and reduce cravings.

I created I Vanilla Protein for this reason – I wanted a reliable plant-based, organic protein powder that tasted great, was smooth in a blend, and easy to use in my baked goods as well.

It’s a great shortcut and I always include it on days I work out. You can order it right here if this sounds useful for you as well.

2. ADD FIBER-RICH CARBS

Carbohydrates, when they come from whole food sources and are prepared as close to the way they came from Mother Nature as possible, are an excellent energy source that will support your healthy, fit body goals – not take away from them. 

The best way to get into optimal “fat burn” mode is actually to have enough energy to show up to your  workouts, think clearly and power through your day. Fiber is essential to a healthy gut and digestive flow, and carbs are your brain’s preferred energy source for focus and concentration. 

Some examples of fiber-rich, nutrient dense whole food carbohydrates are….

• Grains*: Quinoa, rice (all varieties, but especially wild, long-grain, and brown) and oats. 
• Legumes*: Beans (all kinds), lentils and peas.
• Starchy Vegetables: Sweet potatoes, beets, parsnips, pumpkin, squash and yams.

I would limit processed and pre-made carbohydrates. If you opt instead for the whole food sources, you’ll be more full and satisfied and not reaching for the other stuff. 

*I recommend traditional grain and legume preparation, like soaking, sprouting and fermenting to ensure you’re getting the benefits of these nourishing and fiber-rich energy sources without irritation. There are many savvy brands these days that have done that work for you, so look for “sprouted quinoa” “germinated rice” etc. to save time. 

3. INCLUDE HEALTHY FATS

When it comes to fat, we want to eat nutrient-dense whole food sources of it in order to reap the benefits. Here are some of my favorites:

• Gives you long lasting energy – so you can think better, work harder and live life to the fullest!
• Stabilizes blood sugar – which can prevent insulin spikes that trigger fat storage.
• Feel full longer – which promotes satiety and reduces cravings.
• Reduces inflammation – Omega 3 fats are especially beneficial in this regard.
• Produces and regulates hormones – for example eating healthy fat stimulates the production and secretion of leptin, the hormone that helps regulate food intake, maintain a healthy body weight, and ensure your metabolism is in working order.

The amount you take in daily is really dependent on the dietary strategy you follow, just be sure you’re making your choices from whole food sources.

Some of my favorite sources of healthy fats include:

• Avocados
• Nuts and Seeds
• Cold pressed oils: coconut, olive, avocado, etc.
  
  

4. FOCUS ON GREENS and VEGGIES

Greens and veggies play an important role in supporting our health. They include vital micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) that aid your body in many processes and enhance the actions of your protein, carbohydrates and healthy fats – plus often contain digestive-healthy fiber.

Eating more of them – and a VARIETY of them can support your immune system, help you thrive, and protect against heart disease, osteoporosis, cancer, diabetes and much more.

Even with so many great options out there, it can still be tough to find creative ways to include enough of them each and every day which is why I cover my protein AND green bases with Berry Green Protein.

It’s just so convenient – and you get 18 grams of plant protein, plus 15 total organic greens, veggies and fruits

You can shake it up in water alone, you can blend it in a smoothie, or you can even bake with it.

I mentioned how important it is to have variety in your greens – making a smoothie is a great way to vary the greens you get, and adding a bonus scoop of Berry Green Protein can help boost the overall nutrient content to get the full spectrum.

Here are 2 of my favorite easy smoothie recipes (and you’ll find many more recipes on the blog as well to make things that represent ALL of these nutrients):

• Colorado Green Machine
• Berry Blast Smoothie

There may be times in life where it’s challenging to make your normal eating habits as much of a priority, so I also wanted to share some of my healthy shortcuts that are readily available for you.

Click Here for 18 Healthy Shortcuts

I use all of these for my “minimal” prep weeks and they may be useful to you as well. This healthy eating shortcuts guide is packed with helpful time-saving tips, tools and shortcuts for keeping your nutrition game strong when life starts throwing you curve balls.

My 30-Day Challenge Meal Plan comes with a 4-week daily menu, healthy recipe cookbook, grocery lists and a bonus dessert cookbook so you can enjoy a totally balanced lifestyle!

Check out a day of my eating from this program!

The post 4-Step Eating Strategy That Keeps Me Lean appeared first on The Betty Rocker.

In this video, I was actually traveling and had brought my collagen with me. Since I didn’t have all the ingredients for my morning tonic, I simplified by adding some fresh lemon to my collagen in water. Which tastes exactly like lemon water. 

Whole Betty: Full Body Collagen is an unflavored, high-quality collagen peptide supplement that has great research behind it showing the benefits for our skin, joints and bones.

We source our collagen from German cows, which have not been treated with antibiotics or hormones, and are never exposed to GMO’s.

Each serving of Full Body Collagen contains 12.5g of collagen peptides, and each canister contains 30 servings.

The post Full Body Collagen: For skin, joints and bones appeared first on The Betty Rocker.

Take a “day in the life of” look into what some of the coaches from Team Betty Rocker eat!

I don’t know if you’ve encountered these awesome ladies yet who teach in Rock Your Life and help me answer the hundreds of questions we get through our social media channels each day, but they are amazing!

I thought you might like to know what THEY eat (since they’re all trainers and coaches), so they each chose one of their favorite recipes to share with you – all Betty Rocker approved of course!

You’ll find new inspiration to nourish your body, support your workouts, and ideas for making new things if you’ve gotten stuck in a food rut (we’ve all been there!).

When put together, these recipes will give you a well balanced, nutrient dense day of eating. You certainly wouldn’t need to make/eat ALL Of these things in one day. I’d recommend making these recipes and trying them out in your own daily meals for a day, or mixing them in through the week.

Enjoy! And let us know what you’re making this week in the comments below.

I love to have this for leftovers throughout the week and put it on top of greens or mixed with chickpeas. You can also swap out the chicken for tempeh if you are vegetarian! 

This recipe is perfect for a week’s worth of lunches or dinners-just pair it with your favorite protein, like the Turkey Burgers. Feel free to experiment with different veggies. Have fun and get creative with it!

These are so easy and healthy! They make a great dinner or lunch recipe and can be paired with any side you enjoy. If you are looking for a vegetarian option, check out Betty Rocker’s Black Bean Veggie Burgers. 

These are great as snack anytime of day or as an after dinner treat! I love having them as a mid-day snack with a cup of coffee. Yum!

So many delicious options! The Coaches and I look forward to reading your comments and how you enjoyed the recipes.

We would ALL love to support YOU inside Rock Your Life…

…get stronger and healthier with a community of rockstars to support you, home workout challenges for a fit body, and fresh new workout classes each week to keep you motivated! Oh, and we’ve got tons of healthy recipes too!

Check it Out and Start Your Trial Today!

The post 1-Day Healthy Eating Meal Plan appeared first on The Betty Rocker.

Making meal planning easier for you is my goal in today’s post!

You’ll find 5 Tips to Get You INSPIRED, 5 Tips for Getting It Done, and 5 Tips for Keeping it Going down below.

“Meal Planning” encompasses a lot of things, from the way you decide to organize your meals for the day, the week or even the month.

It’s the recipes you choose, the list you make before you go to the store and your ability to “wing it” by deviating from your plan to get what’s on sale or in season.

Meal planning is a really personal thing, so this list encompasses things that have worked for me, and also things that work for Rock Your Life members in the Betty Rocker health and fitness community. Thanks for sharing your ideas, ladies!

Feeding ourselves (and our families) isn’t just about eating, it’s also an expression of creativity and love – which is why I want to support you so that it can be simpler and more fun – especially when you have many demands on your time and are busy!

I’ll be looking forward to reading your responses, questions and suggestions you have for me and other readers about how you do your own meal planning in the comments below!

Tips for Getting Inspired

Sometimes the hardest part is finding inspiration! These tips will help you get fresh new ideas.

1. Check Out Recipes!

Browse blogs, Pinterest, cookbooks and websites for recipes that look delicious and meet your eating requirements.

Here are some great places to find recipes:

• Check out the epic cookbook that comes with the Body Fuel System with 98 tasty recipes!
• Recipes from my Blog can be found here
• Here’s where to find all of my Pinterest Recipe boards

2. Plan Weekly Theme Nights

A great way to get inspired for what recipes to look for is to have a weekly theme night. This can be a fun way to plan your meals, especially if you have kids.

PRO TIP: Weekly theme nights can create a lot of leftovers if you strategically cook them that way they can be used for upcoming lunches, and additional no-prep dinners.

A great way to get kids involved is by having them choose their favorite pizza toppings for dinner one night a week or having them suggest some themes for the next month. That way you have an objective when you’re looking for healthy recipe ideas and not having to make it up yourself.

Here are some fun ideas with a few links to get you started:

• Burger Night
• Slow Cooker Sundays
• Pizza Night
• One-Pot Fridays

3. Get Your Household to Choose (From YOUR Options)

This may seem obvious, but it’s easy to get busy and forget that we don’t have to put all the burden of coming up with inspiration on ourselves.

To make this easy on you and not create extra work (you’re not a restaurant taking custom orders, of course) give them a couple of choices from what you’ve decided fits the weekly budget and the time you have.

4. Is it Raining, Sunny, Hot or Cold?

Checking the weather is a fun meal prep motivation hack that will inspire you to look for recipe ideas based on the climate. I love to eat seasonally and tend to find better deals on foods that are in season.

Check your weather forecast for inspiration. Is it going to be cold this week? How about some soup or crockpot meals?

Hot this week? Maybe some cold salads or simple grilled meat and veggies sounds better.

Priming your brain to think about meals in a different way can give you the motivation to start looking for good recipes that suit you and get you inspired.

5. Plan a Dinner Party for People You Love (optional to invite them lol)

Whether you have actual company coming over or not, one of my favorite hacks for getting inspired is to plan as if some of my favorite people are coming over.

I find that I’m always the MOST inspired when I am imagining taking care of people I love, and sometimes we just need something outside of the norm to get us thinking creatively.

Of course if you’re cooking every week for your family you’re already planning for people you love, so imagine your best friends were coming over for dinner. Or that it’s a holiday week. Some of my favorite menus, side dishes and recipes that last for days happen around the holidays. Why not use that as inspiration for a weekly prep?

Whatever you get excited to make for the (real or imaginary) guests (and your family), you’ll often make extra – which will make for great leftovers – and save you time later.

Tips for Getting it Done

Once you’ve gotten inspired, it’s time to get into the nuts and bolts of making it really work for you.

6. Decide How Many Meals to Plan For

Have a look at your calendar for the coming week and decide the number of meals you want to cook. Will you eat out a couple of times, or is this a stay home week?

Usually 5 nights of dinner and a couple of breakfasts is the most common denominator, but for some people 3 days of meals is the sweet spot.

From there take a look at what you have going on those days. Do the kids have practice? Do you have a late meeting at work? Those might be good nights for a slow cooker recipe or leftovers.

7. Pick Recipes that Have Some Common Ingredients

This is one of my favorite things about making my meal plans. I pick recipes with ingredients that I can use several times. It’s a money saver, and also just makes the whole planning process easier. I like some variety but I also don’t need to have a 3-course dinner that’s different every night!

When I’m thinking about ingredients that “go together” I’m thinking about smoothies that I can use fruit and greens in – greens that also work in the salad I want to make. I’ll choose 2-3 proteins, but prepare them a couple different ways.

Here’s a sample from a couple days of suggested daily menus in the Body Fuel System.You can see how the foods are very complimentary, but still have variety. Each week, the recipes change, but they always work well together in different recipes.

8. Check Your Stock for What You Already Have

Take a look at what you already have in your fridge, pantry, and freezer. Doing inventory of your kitchen and pantry can help you decide on the best recipes to make, and help you avoid wasted food (and spending extra money).

As you’re preparing to make your grocery list based on the recipes you’ve chosen, you may be able to eliminate adding some recipe ingredients to your list.

9. Choose Your Shopping Day

For a lot of people, Sunday is the day to get groceries. But for others it’s a day they’re already out and about running other errands and are close to their preferred store. Whatever day it is, make sure it works with your schedule.

From there, start your grocery list by grouping ingredients together by departments in the grocery store, or by food types.

I always leave the frozen section for the end, and pick up produce first to see if there is anything seasonal or on sale that would work with my plan.

PRO TIP: While I really prefer to go to the store myself, I sometimes use a grocery delivery service called Instacart. You can save your grocery list and regular items you purchase for any number of stores in your area. The time it saves me is well-worth the fee on days I’m short on time – but nothing beats actually seeing and choosing my own foods.

10. Make Enough for More Than One Meal

If you strategically plan your recipes for the week to include similar ingredients, you can have a few staple dishes in quantities that allow you to enjoy variety without breaking the bank.

These days it feels like a luxury to be able to cook every meal fresh – so I opt to cook recipes that keep well for several days and rotate them with other food I’m making.

I’ll vary entrees to use for either lunch or dinner – for instance my shake n’ bake chicken from the Body Fuel System works great on a salad, and can also be used with a side of sweet potatoes or black beans, or even sliced up to use in a sandwich.

Tips for Keeping It Going

Now that you’ve got a system, let’s keep things going so you can be consistent and stay on track with ease.

11. Start a Recipe Journal

One of my favorite ways to find inspiration is to look back at my own record of things I’ve cooked in the past that I’ve enjoyed. I’m always on the lookout for ideas to tweak and turn into my own healthy versions, and sometimes I’ll retry a recipe from the past with a new twist.

If you’re using Pinterest to choose recipes, you can always keep a board with recipes you’ve tried and liked, or take pictures of your own meals that you’ve enjoyed and save them on a board or just on your computer.

12. Create a Calendar for Planning Your Upcoming Meals

Now that you have some great recipes, start a calendar of what you’d like to cook over the next few days or weeks.

You can use a whiteboard, a notepad, your phone, or calendar. The important thing is to write it down so you have a plan that you can easily look at.

I really love how Del also added her workouts to this lovely plan. She was using the Body Fuel System menu to map out her upcoming week – a great way to get in the habit of NOT overeating. When you see what’s coming up, you’re more likely to stay on track.

13. Follow an Already Done-For-You Plan.

Save time, and enjoy the convenience of having everything all mapped out for you so that you can shop and prep with ease.

My meal plans all come with different healthy recipes, done for you daily menus and grocery lists so all you have to do is follow the steps! I’d recommend the Body Fuel System, as it’s my most comprehensive food and nutrient guide, has 98 healthy gluten-free, dairy-free whole food recipes (with Vegetarian options), 6 weeks of done-for-you meal plans that make all of this easy – and you can use all 6 weeks 3 different ways, extending the value you get with this plan dramatically.

Grab the Body Fuel System HERE!

14. Set Yourself Up for Success #likeaboss

One of the best ways to cut down on the time it takes to make things is to set yourself up for success like a prep kitchen chef would.

Dice up some garlic, wash your lettuce and herbs, chop onions, roast vegetables and even bake a little chicken. Then stack up your containers of prepped ingredients in the refrigerator and bask in your own awesome preparedness!

15. Make sure you can see your food!

It’s easy to forget what food you bought when your fridge is over-full and things get hidden in the back.

Keep your prepped food front and center and have a list nearby of everything in the fridge, especially leftovers, as a visual reminder of all that delicious food.

Nutrition is the KEY foundational piece to looking and feeling your absolute best. So the fact that you’re here makes me really happy, because I know that you are going to be successful!

Wherever you are at on your path of health, I support you and your self experimentation – we are all a work in progress on an ever-evolving journey and I am so happy to share it with you!

Comment below and let me know what tips you are going to use or if you have any others that you want to share. I love hearing from you!

If you know a woman who would like to feel more empowered, happy and fit, share this post with her! 

Want Me To Just Do The Planning For You?

No problem! I’m here to help with the Body Fuel System!

Enjoy 98 Betty Rocker gluten and dairy free whole food recipes that are EASY to make, and even easier to eat, a 6-week done for you daily meal plan that’s easily customizable, grocery lists, prep steps and more!

The Body Fuel System uses my simple, proven Eating Types to make it easy to stay on track. It also gives you healthy, fat-burning recipes and foods you can eat to look and feel your BEST every day!

Recipes like….

This is my signature eating system and it contains 6 weeks of done-for-you meal planning and recipe guides! You will not only learn the strategies that have given me long-term success, but also enjoy the time-saving benefits of having it all planned out for you!

Learn more right here, and find out why people love this program so much!

The post 15 Tips to Make Meal Planning Easy appeared first on The Betty Rocker.

Figuring out WHAT to eat, grocery shopping and then having the time to cook with recipes that require a lot of preparation and ingredients can be overwhelming.

So here is a week’s worth of dinner recipes for you (vegetarian versions too) so you can simplify your week Betty Rocker style – with foods that nourish your body, support your workouts, and make you feel and look your best!

How I Plan My Week

1: Choose Your Foods

A great way to get started when it comes to healthy eating is to think of what the best options are for you of the primary macronutrients – which proteins to base your meals on, what carbs you’ll want to include, and which fats will work well with your choices.

You can also be thinking of how to incorporate greens and micronutrients into your week as well (essential greens, and foods from the other macro categories that have minerals and vitamins we want).

Each of our bodies respond to food differently. Eating is such an intimate communication we have with our body. In order to truly thrive with the best energy and support ourselves for a long, healthy life we need to pay close attention to how foods make us feel.

If you aren’t sure what works well for your body, consider taking a home food sensitivity test like this one from Everly Well, or asking your doctor to do a test for you.

Even with a baseline of whole foods, different things work for different people at different times (there is no “one perfect diet”) – so be open to checking in with yourself at minimum annually to see where you’re at.

There are many ways to test your system to see what foods might be irritating to your body, and it’s also a good idea to see how your gut health is faring to be sure you’re able to absorb the nutrients you’re eating and that there is no inflammation blocking you from optimal function. I work with a functional medicine doctor to keep tabs on these types of things.

With or without these tests, trust your intuition and listen to your body. I suggest creating a list of foods that you like for each nutrient category. When you do this, you can more easily look for recipes to base your meals on, and simply swap proteins, carbs, fats and greens in and out of recipes you find, and have even more control of your eating.

If you write this down, you can more easily add foods to it that you come across and discover you like, and make note of things you liked but actually didn’t sit well with your digestive system.

2: Choose Recipes that Incorporate the Foods and Nutrients Your Body Needs

Once I’ve identified the options for those nutrient categories, I start figuring out the meals/recipes I’ll want for each meal time.

When planning for the week, think about:

• 2-3 breakfast options you like (just click here for some great options from the blog)
• A few entrees that could double as dinner or lunch (I’ve got you covered below)
• A couple smoothie ideas that have complimentary ingredients to give you variety with your greens
• A snack (mini-meal) option that has all the same nutrients you’d get in a meal, like home made pumpkin protein muffins or these lemon protein bars that are easy to eat and great to grab when you go longer between main meals.
• Round out your plan with a couple of staple sides that you would like to have on hand daily like a big mixed greens salad and some rice, quinoa or pre-made easy to grab sweet potato chunks…

……and then make your grocery list around that.  You can find the recipes for my favorite green salad and sweet potato discs, plus watch me make shake-n-bake chicken (another fast, easy entree) in this simple meal prep class.

Here is a sample of 3 days from Week 1 of the 30-Day Challenge Meal Plan:

You don’t have to follow this menu template to be successful. You could mix and match the recipes, swap out some of the ingredients, change the order of the meals, or even eat out and simply base what you order on some of these suggestions.

What’s most important is making whole foods your baseline, and noting that you are eating the key nutrients with each of your meals so you are full and satisfied, with plenty of energy to fuel your workouts and healthy life!

Just below, you’ll find the entree recipes from Week 1 of the Meal Plan for:

• Healthy Chicken Nuggets
• Chickpea Nuggets (vegetarian)
• Turkey Burgers
• Black Bean Burgers (vegetarian)
• Baked Fish with Herbs and Veggie Medley
• Baked Tempeh with Herbs and Veggie Medley (vegetarian)

The 30 Day Challenge Meal Plan includes all the recipes and grocery lists for breakfasts, smoothies, sides, snacks and entrees for 4 full weeks – with plenty of delicious options and structure to help you eat right for YOUR life!

Save time and make this your own with everything all mapped out so you can shop and prep with ease – with 3 options for how to do your prep – all at once (batch), not much at all (minimal), or a flexible option in the middle called hybrid that lets you do some prep, and also cook on the fly.

Every time you eat, you’re creating the foundation and tissue that make up the shape and structure of your body – and every time you exercise, you’re simply putting the finishing touches on the beautiful physique you’ve sculpted with what you put in your mouth!

I hope you enjoy these recipes as much as I do!  You can find the rest of the recipes for Week 1 plus an additional three weeks worth of delicious recipes and a healthy dessert guide all inside of the 30 Day Challenge Meal Plan!

You get…

• 4 weeks of done-for-you daily meal plan guides
• 70+ healthy, easy recipes (gluten and dairy free + vegetarian options)
• grocery lists
• food prep steps
• BONUS healthy Desserts Cookbook

Never run out of healthy eating options again!

The post 3-Day Easy Eating Guide with Fast, Healthy Entrees appeared first on The Betty Rocker.

To set yourself up for a week of success using my hybrid approach to meal prep, you’ll need less than an hour.

I’m going to make a few staple recipes for the week and explain the why and how of my choices to give you insight into setting yourself up for success.

I’m also sharing some of my favorite personal tips for staying on track with food while traveling, how to menu surf while dining out, how to think of your kitchen the same way a professional chef does, and how to use macro- and micro-nutrients to guide how you build your meals.

You’ll be fully empowered to create your own healthy eating system after watching this video!

Leave me a comment when you’re done watching this and let me know what you’re eating this week at home!

slow wifi or internet connection speed? use the gear icon on the video to adjust playback quality to avoid interruptions

Helpful Cooking Utensils and Items:

Glass Storage Containers

Blender

Helpful Resources I Mentioned During the Class:

Menu Surfing:How to Order While You’re Eating Out and Stay on Track with Your Goals

5-step Food Prep and Recipes Guide: contains many great recipes, and a sample 3-day menu

Top 5 Protein Powders I Recommend:My top recommendations for protein powders that you can trust from the best sources

For time-saving healthy eating, check out the Body Fuel System!

The Body Fuel System uses my simple, proven Eating Types to make it easy to stay on track. It also gives you healthy, fat-burning recipes and foods you can eat to look and feel your BEST every day!

Recipes like….

This is my signature eating system and it contains 6 weeks of done-for-you meal planning and recipe guides! You will not only learn the strategies that have given me long-term success, but also enjoy the time-saving benefits of having it all planned out for you!

Learn more right here, and find out why people love this program so much!

The post Simple Food Prep Class appeared first on The Betty Rocker.

Your stomach isn’t growling, but still, all you can think about is the experience of donuts, a sundae, fried chicken, or chocolate for example.

When that feeling arises, it can be helpful to have some logic to help understand why this may be happening so you can override the desire to eat everything in sight.

In today’s post, I wanted to take a look at some of the reasons we get cravings, along with some possible solutions!

1. Emotional association

Remember eating apple pie at your grandmother’s house or the taste of ice cream after a game? Food has so many emotional associations. Many foods are connected with memories and feelings, and eating them has the power to trigger all of those good sensations.

Maybe you catch yourself standing in front of the fridge after having a fight with someone, ready to reach for something that will make you feel better.

Or maybe it’s a habit that you have developed – an association with an experience, like “I always eat dessert after dinner because that’s what I did growing up,” or “I always felt the most joy as a child when there was something sweet involved.”

Even when you’re not “hungry” you can still override those feelings of fullness because emotion, and the memories we have associated with our emotions, are often far more powerful than logic or reason and can trump your body’s biofeedback.

The difference between being hungry and having a craving is that when you’re hungry, you need food, and when you’re craving, you need a feeling.

The thing about that “good” feeling we get from eating when we’re not actually hungry is what I’d call the “band-aid” effect. It doesn’t actually solve the thing we’re really missing.

2. Judging foods as good or bad

Food is not “good” or “bad,” food is food. Some food is more nourishing than other food, and that’s ok. Of course it’s optimal to eat more nutrient-dense food for the sake of your health, but eating some foods that aren’t is part of life for most people, and often happens during enjoyable social gatherings.

When we call foods good or bad, we’re actually judging ourselves as good or bad for our choices. And this creates associations of stress, guilt and shame around eating that is not conducive to your mental health.

That veiled self-judgement we get into can also trickle over onto other people. If we’ve decided a food choice is bad (and we are bad when we choose it) it means other people are being bad when they choose that food as well. Judging other people for their choices means we aren’t as open to learning from them, or accepting their views as valid.

So back to the cravings conversation – when we are judging the food (ourselves) as good or bad, it can create negative mental associations that we subtly rebel against. If something is “bad for us” we feel like our natural desire is being suppressed. Have you ever heard of a teenager who didn’t try to sneak out or break the rules when they were strictly told they had a curfew?

If we feel like we “can’t have something” we sometimes obsess about it MORE, and end up wanting it more than we would have if it were available to us. Setting us up to crave it. Then we break our own rules, which does more damage than just enjoying it because usually after we break the rules, we feel remorse, guilt, shame and stress – and tell ourselves we’ll never do it again, diet starts tomorrow, repeat, repeat, repeat.

3. Advertising exposure

This one is so obvious when you think about it, but it’s actually hidden in plain sight. As humans, we’re highly suggestible and easily influenced by appealing imagery and messaging. And there’s nothing wrong with that. Just something to be aware of when it comes to why we’re having cravings.

When we’re watching TV at night we get nice and comfortable on the couch, and maybe we have some snacks we want to enjoy. Because our primary focus is on what we’re watching and not the signals we’re getting from our body, it’s easy to mindlessly munch and end up overeating.

Even if you’ve made your own nourishing snacks, it can be hard to notice when you’re full. I don’t think we really need a lot of snacks, if we’re eating nutrient dense, satisfying meals, normally your body is fine until the next main meal. But we can’t always get fed at the optimal time, so having a healthy nutrient-dense “mini meal” with you can be a great way to keep your blood sugar from dropping.

However many of the pre-made snack foods we’re told are so convenient are NOT nutrient dense mini meals. They spike your blood sugar and don’t leave you feeling as full and satisfied as you would have with say, and apple and some nuts. We buy snacks because we’ve been convinced we can’t make it between meals without them. We buy many pre-made foods because they’ve been marketed to us as “convenient” and “time saving” or “a great deal.” Advertising messages are powerful drivers of our choices and they convince us to take actions we might not otherwise take.

Or how about when you browse different websites, looking for a recipe? I personally get frustrated when going to websites with dozens of pop-ups, and when I have to scroll a mile through a hundred ads just to get to the actual recipe. But the reason people do that is because it’s effective and it makes money. We are influenced by what we see, and this is just another form of advertising that can have an influence on your desire (or craving) for something you didn’t know about before.

Foods and products in shows that your favorite characters are eating or drinking drive powerful associations with the desirability of these products. Have you ever been watching a show and the characters are drinking wine, making you want to pour yourself a glass? Nothing wrong with watching the show, nothing wrong with wanting the wine, nothing wrong with having the wine. What’s questionable is being on autopilot and taking action because of the power of suggestion and not asking yourself if you’re really hungry/thirsty/want a glass of wine. And on potentially not stopping when you would have normally because you’re on autopilot.

This is also the hallmark of “influencer marketing” which is now a big part of how brands currently get products in front of consumers on social media. In a perfect scenario, an influencer would love and use the products they get paid to promote (and the product would do what it says it does, be well-researched, and of good value), and the influencer would have real, genuine experiences to share. I like to give people the benefit of the doubt, but I do my own research on anything someone I like is suggesting, and recommend you do too.

4. Lack of Sleep

The sleep-wake cycle plays a major role in our ability to regulate appetite. The hormones that influence control over blood sugar and appetite control are deeply impacted by your sleep quality and quantity.

During sleep, glucose tolerance and insulin secretion (manages your blood sugar),  leptin (the fullness hormone) and ghrelin (the hunger hormone) are organized and regulated.

Without proper sleep, these regulatory chemicals get disrupted and can’t follow their normal pathways that keep you connected to eating in accordance with your body’s energy needs, causing cravings and disrupting feelings of fullness after eating, causing you to reach for more.

5. Getting dehydrated

Water is one of the most essential components in the human body, making up 75% of all muscle tissue, and 10% of fatty tissue.  It also transports nutrients (like sugar) through cells, and filters wastes.

Dehydration is one of the most common causes of sugar cravings. When you’re hydrated your body can easily access its glycogen (stored sugar) reserves, helping to keep your energy stable. But being low on fluids makes it harder for the body to access and metabolize those resources – meaning we start craving sugar to give us some quick energy.

Many of us are dehydrated and we don’t even know it. Water is necessary to the function of all our internal organs, and dehydration is also a common causes of digestive problems, lymph congestion (your immune system pathway), and can inhibit your body’s natural detoxification pathways.

If you exercise regularly, it is essential that you stay hydrated. Dehydration not only causes muscle fatigue and cramping, the body’s ability to thermoregulate (maintain body temperature) is decreased. It’s easy to become dehydrated if you do a lot of cardio and are sweating a lot without replenishing yourself, and if you’re consuming alcohol regularly or drinking more than a cup of coffee daily.

Don’t get caught with unnecessary cravings just because you forgot your water bottle.

6. Not eating enough dietary protein

I’ve found that many of my readers tend to downplay the importance of protein when planning meals. However, once they start intentionally incorporating this vital nutrient, it’s much easier to feel full and satisfied after a nourishing meal.

Protein is more satiating (satisfying) in the long run than fat or carbs. Over time, protein can simultaneously reduce your hunger hormone (ghrelin) levels and boost your levels of a satiety hormone (peptide YY), so if you’re skimping on it, you’re missing out on that full, satisfied feeling your body enjoys while the digestive system does its thing.

Protein is needed for everything from hormone regulation, enzyme production, and the regulation of our body fat.

Eating protein leads to a release of glucagon, a hormone that helps encourage fat out of your fat cells so it can be used up by your muscles. And it helps your fat cells become less receptive to storing fat.

So if you’re not mindfully including protein with each of your main meals throughout the day, your cravings could be related to not feeling full and satisfied by the intake of this important nutrient.

7. Eating foods that raise your blood sugar (too frequently)

Sugar is more addicting than almost any other substance because it literally causes a chemical reaction in your brain. Your body might be seeking the next energy spike if you’ve been eating foods with too much sugar, and that’s where your craving is coming from.

Eating a lot of sweet or salty foods on a regular basis (which can happen with processed and packaged foods, restaurant and fast-foods, etc.) puts your body in a constant yo-yo of trying to balance your blood sugar, your energy, and your hormones.

You have to really watch out for a lot of pre-made, packaged foods. Read those food labels. It’s easy to be eating what we think are “health foods” or “convenient snacks” or “shortcuts” that have sugars added to them that cause this constant erosion of our intentions to actually consume less sugar.

Over the course of the day, between regular whole foods and those types of foods, you’ll be way over your sugar intake needs and your body will happily package up the extra to store as fat for you.

Your body can store the glucose you don’t need for immediate energy in 3 places, your liver glycogen, your muscle glycogen, and/or your fat cells.

“Nutrient partitioning” describes which of these 3 paths will be taken, and that has a lot to do with your current amount of body fat, muscle mass, and hormone levels – particularly insulin.

If you are insulin resistant, fat storage is prioritized. If you have good insulin sensitivity, muscle and liver storage is prioritized. Improving insulin sensitivity can help you reduce insulin resistance, and reduce the risk of many diseases, and ensures your body converts the energy from your food in the most efficient manner (including supporting your muscle).

The more insulin sensitive you are, the more readily your nutrients will be partitioned to the muscle tissue to be stored as glycogen (rather than fat storage).

Improve your insulin sensitivity by eating whole foods, and getting regular exercise.

Constantly eating high sugar foods (or eating in excess of what your body can process) triggers the insulin response over and over, leading to insulin resistance. Doing the opposite of that, eating low-glycemic (low sugar) foods – in the form of fiber rich whole food carbohydrates is a great way to improve your insulin sensitivity.

A slower, steadier influx of glucose (rather than a huge spike) gives insulin a chance to do its job at the right pace. Including fiber helps us feel more full – meaning we won’t be as likely to overeat.

Dietary fat has a similar effect, slowing down nutrient absorption and making us feel more full and satisfied so we’re not as likely to overeat. Plus, fat is very nutrient dense, giving us plenty of energy in a smaller package.

Set yourself up for success and beat cravings with a plan for what you’re going to eat in advance. 

The Body Fuel System uses my simple, proven Eating Types to make it easy to stay on track. It also gives you healthy, fat-burning recipes and foods you can eat to look and feel your BEST every day!

Recipes like….

This is my signature eating system and it contains 6 weeks of done-for-you meal planning and recipe guides! You will not only learn the strategies that have given me long-term success, but also enjoy the time-saving benefits of having it all planned out for you!

Learn more right here, and find out why people love this program so much!

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3065172/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17212793/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4358156/

The post 7 Hacks to Crush Your Food Cravings appeared first on The Betty Rocker.

Maybe it’s that feeling of total overwhelm that makes us feel like it’s “all or nothing” so we just give up before we even start.

Maybe there’s just a lack of motivation to do the perceived work needed to make and eat healthy food.

Or maybe it’s simply a lack of TIME. With your busy schedule, it can seem impossible to get healthy meals prepared daily for yourself (not to mention family), get your workout in, get enough sleep, stay hydrated and all the other things we’re trying to stay on top of.

“80% Nutrition 20% Exercise.” You’ve probably heard me say that nutrition is 80% of the equation when it comes to getting that fit, healthy body that you can maintain with ease. That’s a bit of a simplification, because we have other factors that are important like our sleep and stress levels, but if I were purely looking at exercise and nutrition and their relationship to each other, I’d weight nutrition more important than exercise.

We simply can’t afford to miss the mark on finding a sustainable, easy way to get nutritious food in our body on the regular. Failure to do this not only sabotages the results we want to see on the outside, it harms all of the components of long-term health.

Because I too have struggled with these same issues, I devised a simple approach that anyone can use to eat healthy – regardless of their lack of time, lack of motivation and feelings of overwhelm.

Join me to discover the 3 eating types, and see if you can spot which one is yours. Take the Quiz after the video to see if you were right!

When you have the foundational knowledge of what the nutrients do in your body, it empowers you to eat complete meals that satisfy and nourish you – and you can feel good about eating out and taking shortcuts because you’ll know exactly how to navigate in any situation.

Check out (and feel free to save/bookmark) each of the articles in this comprehensive series to set yourself up for long-term success with any eating strategy:

• Protein 101
• Carbohydrates 101
• Greens 101
• Healthy Fats 101 

How you eat and what you eat are very personal choices and should be enjoyable, sustainable and give you lasting results.

As I mentioned in the video, making some simple customizations to rotating my foods really helped me.  My naturopath tested my blood and gut biome to help me dial in my food and supplement intake so I could really optimize my health.

There are many ways you can get things tested – check with your doctor or naturopath to start customizing your intake to what your body needs most and what sensitivities you have.

To make eating easy no matter what you eat, having a sustainable eating strategy is key. You should never be subject to crazy rules that leave you discouraged, hungry, lacking energy, and feeling overwhelmed. Use the eating styles to find your sweet spot, and take the quiz to find out which one you are!

1. BATCH

Use this approach if you:

• Are short on time but like to cook in 1 efficient session
• Like having food ready to just grab-and-go every day
• Make sure you have leftovers for the next day when you cook
• Are intermediate to advanced in the kitchen

I personally use this method about once per month, though many of my readers use it more often.

For a sample run through of how it works, check out my 5-Step Food Prep and Recipes Guide

It takes planning and forethought, but it always sets me up with healthy meals and snacks for the week, so I don’t have to think about it.

My meal plans have all of the planning done for you in a special Batch section for each week – with grocery lists, food prep steps, daily menus, and recipes so all you have to do is the cooking! Plus you have the benefit of the other 2 styles at your fingertips so you can use them anytime. 

2. MINIMAL

Use this approach if you:

• Are traveling
• Are very busy and short on time
• Are a beginner at healthy eating or cooking

I use this method when I’m traveling because it allows me to stay on track with my goals, continue to have good energy, and saves me time.

I rely on my knowledge of healthy food and the nutrients (protein, carbs, healthy fats, greens) to make the best choices for my body on-the-go.

A great resource for healthy travel and dining out is my How to Eat Healthy Traveling and Eating Out Guide!

If you know the optimal ingredients and shortcut foods to buy, you can still make great choices without cooking.

My meal plans have a special Minimal section for each week that show you the easiest ways to have healthy food to eat and the best shortcut foods to use to save you time and help you eat healthy on the go. Plus you have the advantage of seeing the other 2 styles too so you can use them anytime.

3. HYBRID

Use this approach if you:

• Have time to cook on the fly during the week
• Like to have a few staple foods prepared but don’t want to spend hours prepping
• Want to take some shortcuts but also cook a little

I use the hybrid method on average 2-3 weeks each month because I enjoy my healthy home cooked food but also like having the flexibility to eat out or use shortcuts.

Check out some of my time-saving resources in the Healthy Eating Shortcuts Guide.

This allows me to cook fresh meals when I have more time, and still make healthy choices when I’m ordering food somewhere else.

My meal plans have a special Hybrid section for each week that show you the easiest ways to have healthy food to eat and the best shortcut foods to use to save you time and help you eat healthy on the go. 

For time-saving healthy eating that gives you all 3 eating type options, check out the Body Fuel System!

The Body Fuel System uses my simple, proven Eating Types to make it easy to stay on track. It also gives you healthy, fat-burning recipes and foods you can eat to look and feel your BEST every day!

Recipes like….

This is my signature eating system and it contains 6 weeks of done-for-you meal planning and recipe guides! You will not only learn the strategies that have given me long-term success, but also enjoy the time-saving benefits of having it all planned out for you!

Learn more right here, and find out why people love this program so much!

The post Which Eating Type are You? appeared first on The Betty Rocker.

As someone who has moved quite a few times myself, I could totally relate to what she was saying, and so could lots of other Rockstars.

So I set out to write down all of my top resources in one place because….

…it’s not just moving that knocks us off our game.

Think business travel…busy seasons…re-adjusting to school schedules…

….there are so many things that can throw a wrench in even our best-laid eating plans.

That’s why I created this Healthy Eating Shortcuts Guide, full of super-handy, super-helpful time-saving tips, tools and shortcuts for keeping your nutrition game strong when life starts throwing you curve balls.

Please add to it in the comments below, and share this post – I’d love to learn your resources and ideas too! 

Healthy Shortcuts for Food Delivery

When life gets extra hectic, it can be incredibly helpful to take advantage of home delivery services that will bring food right to your door. Here are some of my favorite shortcuts for food delivery. 

Nationwide Meal Delivery: Trifecta

Local Food Delivery: InstaCart

Save your time for what you *want* to do by getting your groceries delivered to you the very same day you order them by a friendly InstaCart shopper! I use this service about once a month, and I’m always glad to have it as a backup.

Click here to start shopping.

Grass-Fed Meats: Butcher Box

I’m always on the hunt for the best QUALITY for the best VALUE. This is my #1 go-to for getting both. This is a great company that treats their customers right.

Score an exclusive $15 off of grass-fed, sustainably-raised meats from Butcher Box –

Click here to see what you can get delivered!

Healthy Seafood: Vital Choice

I’m such a fan of high quality seafood. Sometimes it’s hard to get a good deal on the best quality depending on where you live. I invite you to check these guys out, this is where I’ve been getting mine. They made a special deal for my readers actually.

Use the code ROCKER to get 10% off of the freshest, healthiest fish and seafood around!

Check out everything they have to offer here.

Healthy Shortcuts for Protein Bars

When time allows, I love making my own healthy protein snacks like Gluten-free Pumpkin Muffins or Superfood Chocolate Protein Energy Bars. But when that’s not an easy option, these pre-packaged protein bars offer smart, delicious alternatives. 

I love these simple-yet-delicious bars because they’re made with real food and organic ingredients. You can tell it’s a good one when it doesn’t last on the shelf for 3 years because of all the preservatives lol. This one you’ll want to keep refrigerated.

Click here to check them out!

Rise Bars

Most of the Rise Bars only have 3 whole food ingredients – and they’re also super yummy! I love their quality and simplicity – and of course the taste!

Get some of these awesome on-the-go protein snacks!

Rx Bars

These “No B.S.” bars really live up to their claim – minimal, high-quality ingredients. They use egg white protein, which is a great option if you can’t do whey.

Click here to see all the fun flavors they offer!

Epic Bars

Craving a savory protein-rich snack? With choices like Turkey, Beef, and Bison, these Epic Bars are perfect on-the-go servings of protein for times when you want to sidestep the sweet.

Check them out here!

Best Protein Powders

Protein powder is an easy, convenient way to get an extra serving of protein – especially if you’re on the go or out of time to cook.

Read more about my top 5 favorite protein powders here.

Whole Betty I Vanilla Protein

A 100% organic blend of pea, chia, pumpkin and cranberry seed this blend is vanilla flavored and sweetened with monk fruit. It contains 20 grams of plant-based complete protein per serving. It blends easily in water, in a smoothie, and I’ve tested it in numerous recipes. It comes with a free recipe guide! Made by my own brand for you, by me!

Shop Here!

Four Sigmatic Superfood Protein

A 100% organic blend of pea, hemp, chia, pumpkin and coconut this 100% plant-based, highly-digestible, and complete protein powder is unflavored – contains no sweeteners and has 18 grams of protein per serving. Plus they offer it in individual packets for easy, on-the-go goodness. I also love the addition of mushrooms and adaptogenic herbs, something Four Sigmatic is known for.

Use code ROCKSTAR to get a 15% discount on your order!

Whole Betty Berry Green Protein

100% certified organic, Berry Green Protein is a delicious plant-based vanilla strawberry blend that has 18g of highly absorbable protein per serving. It also has an impressive array of organic ingredients including barley grass, wheat grass, spirulina, chlorella, spinach, kale, tomatoes, carrots, beets, parsley, apple, blueberry, cranberry and raspberry.

If you are following a healthy lifestyle, seeking support for sustained energy, mental clarity and overall well-being, it is a convenient, delicious and powerful nutrient-dense option for you!

                                           Check it out here.

Nutiva Hemp Protein

Prefer a plant-based protein? This is my go-to! Blend it into your green smoothie to round it out into a complete meal –

Check it out here.

Protein Travel Packs

Pro Tip: Measure servings of your protein of choice into Ziploc bags, then store the bags in your shaker cup. Makes for a super-portable, super-convenient protein snack no matter where you go – just add water! 

Portable Juice Powder

Here are my favorite powders to boost my nutrient intake when I can’t get fresh produce.

Organifi Green Juice

This is my absolute favorite substitute for fresh greens – it has a delicious flavor (like minty green tea) and blends so well with just water. You can also add it to smoothies or baked good for an extra boost of greens.

Get your Organifi here!

Organifi Red Juice

Organifi does it again! Delicious and convenient just like its green cousin, the Red juice boasts the benefits and antioxidants of acai, beets, pomegranate, and berries.

Learn more about it here!

Healthy Shortcuts for Portable Snacks

Jilz Gluten Free Crackers

Jilz makes some amazing gluten free and paleo-friendly crackers – I love bringing these with me when I’m traveling or running errands.

Click here to get some of these awesome crackers!

Sprout Organic Baby Food Packets

I always have one or two of these in my bag – especially when I’m traveling by plane. I usually grab the ones with some sort of greens in the mix to get an additional serving of veggies…super important when you’re traveling.

Click here to try some!

Healthy On-the-Go Tools

Here are a couple helpful on-the-go tools that I use.

Blender Bottle Shaker Cup

Whether I want to take a smoothie with me when I run errands or travel with portioned protein powder in Ziplock bags, my shaker cup is always by my side.

Get yours here!

Nutribullet Blender

Going on vacation? Pack a Nutribullet in your suitcase! This portable, powerful blender is perfect when you want to stay on track while you’re out of town.

Get yours here!

Helpful Articles for Travel and On-the-Go

All of these articles contain great information to use while traveling, eating out, while you’re sick, during an injury, or just when life gets busy.

• How to Eat Healthy While Traveling and Order at Restaurants:
  This article is awesome to help you think through travel strategies and ordering out while keeping it healthy.
• How to Train when You’re Sick or Injured: when you’re traveling or in the middle of a move, this post is great because it helps you focus on getting your nutrition without stressing about working out – how to take care of your body
• Menu Surfing
  My quintessential mental framework for navigating any restaurant menu.

I’d love to hear from you – tell me your favorite Healthy Eating Shortcuts!

Leave a comment below, and share your best time-saving hacks for keeping your nutrition game on point when life gets crazy busy.

What works for you might work for someone else, too – we can all learn from each other!

Let me make healthy eating easy for you! Take my Eating Type Quiz!

The post Healthy Eating Shortcuts Guide appeared first on The Betty Rocker.

They contain important phytonutrients, which are nutrients found in plants that help us fight off disease (1). Greens contain vital fiber that helps keep digestion optimal with a healthy gut microbiome, and help us lose unwanted body fat.

Because we live in the day and age of cheap, processed, fake foods and less-than-stellar environmental situations, our bodies can easily get overloaded with toxic elements from everything from household cleaning products, beauty products, the things we eat and drink to the very air we breath that make it hard for the body’s natural filtration pathways to keep up.

That’s why it’s super smart self-care to support your all of your body’s systems with whole, real foods from reliable sources so you can serve your cells with high quality building blocks of energy, body tissue and brain power.

Greens and vegetables have a lot of super powers – they will:

• boost your immune system,
• support a glowing complexion,
• activate healthy digestion,
• decrease inflammation, joint pain, and stiffness, and
• improve your energy and mood.

Harness the Power of Micronutrients

I’m sure you’ve heard of macronutrients before – the nutrients our bodies needs in larger quantities to function and thrive  – specifically protein, carbohydrates, and healthy fats.

In addition to our macros, we also need micronutrients – vitamins and minerals – to grow, metabolize properly, and enjoy an overall sense of well-being. Even though we only need a comparatively smaller amount of micronutrients than macronutrients, they are equally as important to our health and wellness.

Micronutrient deficiencies can lead to serious health concerns like fatigue, hair loss, muscle cramping, and migraines, none of which help get you closer to your goals!

Eat the Rainbow

The vibrant colors of GREENS and other vegetables indicate the special disease-fighting phytonutrients found inside. Phytonutrients are plant nutrients with bioactive food components that play an important role in supporting our health. Eating more can support your immune system, help you thrive, and protect agains heart disease, osteoporosis, cancer, diabetes and much more.

Taking vitamins may be necessary and recommended by your doctor – but don’t skip eating your greens in favor of a handful of pills. As naturally occurring compounds, phytonutrients found in plants are much more readily absorbed and used by your body than their synthetic counterparts.

Some examples of phytonutrients include polyphenols, resveratrol, flavanoids, isoflavanoids, and carotenoids. They can be anti-microbial, anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-aging, neuroprotective, analgesic (pain relieving), and more! (4)

Here are some examples of phytonutrients and different vegetables you can find them in:

• GREEN veggies like spinach, broccoli, cabbage and brussels sprouts: lutein, zeaxanthin, isoflavones, flavanoids, and EGCG.
• RED veggies like chili peppers, tomato and red cabbage: lycopene, ellagic acid, and hydroxybenzoic acid.
• ORANGE veggies like squash, turmeric, pumpkin and carrots: alpha-carotene, flavanols, and terpenoids.
• WHITE veggies like garlic, onion, rutabaga and parsnips: flavanols, quercetin, and sulfides.
• PURPLE veggies like beets and eggplant: anthocyanins and resveratrol.

Let me make healthy eating easy for you! Take my Eating Type Quiz!

Soluble and Insoluble Fiber: the Difference

Soluble fiber (which your body can break down) helps slow the absorption of sugar, an important factor in weight regulation. Since soluble fiber takes longer to digest, it also means that more time can elapse before you feel hungry again.

Soluble fiber also promotes a healthy immune system by providing your “friendly flora” (or beneficial intestinal bacteria) with important nutrients it uses to fuel its own growth. This is actually really cool, and it makes a huge difference to your overall health (5).

As they metabolize some of the fiber you eat, these friendly microbes produce molecules called “short- chain fatty acids,” which have been associated with a decrease in cancerous colonic cells, reduction of serum cholesterol, and maintenance of both healthy blood sugar levels and healthy intestinal tract cell walls.

A higher prevalence of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) in studies has shown a decrease in body-weight (6). This increase in SCFAs indicates a healthy gut microbiome and this further proves the idea that a higher fiber intake leads to weight loss (which really means fat loss).

Insoluble fiber is not digested by the body, which makes it extremely important to consume on a regular, consistent basis. As it goes through the digestive tract, insoluble fiber binds to toxins and carries them out of our body.

Without a diet that contains adequate fiber, food particles and waste byproducts can get stuck or build up in the looping, folding twists of the intestines over time and cause inflammation, increased blood pressure, and toxicity in the body. We definitely can do without all that, so start looking for ways to increase your Greens!

How Fiber Supports Your System

Dietary fiber, especially from fresh vegetables has many important functions like intestinal peristalsis (moving food through the GI system), weight reduction by the satiety mechanisms (feeling full), preventing colon cancer, reducing cholesterol and post-meal blood sugar responses (7).

In recent years, we’ve seen an increase in inflammation and a decrease in dietary fiber consumption in Western culture – mainly attributed to reliance on fast foods and processed convenience foods.

Fiber supports your immune system.

Studies show a negative relationship between fiber intake and inflammatory markers in chronic diseases, so when fiber intake goes down, inflammatory markers go up, creating a stronger prevalence for diseases like obesity, type-2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular disease.

Emerging research highlights the link between a higher fiber intake and substantial effects on the microbiome and human health (8). Plant-based foods and GREENS are the primary sources of bioactive compounds and dietary fiber leading to these improved health effects.

Your gut health is synonymous with immune function, and fiber plays an important role in supporting your immune system. Eating the right kinds of fiber in the proper amounts (women: 30-35g/day) from whole foods like greens can improve your gut microbiome by feeding your good gut bacteria, which will improve your immune system leading to a healthier you.

Fiber plays a key role in helping you maintain or achieve your optimal weight.

High-fiber foods generally require more chewing time, which gives your body more time to register when it’s full, helping you to avoid overeating.

Additionally, high-fiber foods decrease energy density. This means they are less “energy dense” than other foods like healthy fats. There is less energy for the amount of food volume. This means you can eat more and look better at the same time by helping you feel fuller, longer, while triggering your mental “stop eating” shutoff valve.

Speaking of healthy fat, fiber rich greens are an ideal compliment to fat in your diet. Combining high-fiber green foods with healthy fats helps you boost the nutrients found in the greens and maximize the utility of the energy provided from the fat.

When, and Which Greens Should I Eat?

Here’s a sampling of greens and vegetables high in both micronutrients and fiber:

• spinach
• kale
• swiss chard
• arugula
• romaine lettuce
• bok choy
• green beans
• mustard greens
• turnip greens
• collards
• broccoli
• brussels sprout
• cauliflower
• green and red cabbage
• herbs such as green onion, cilantro, parsley and basil
• summer and winter squash (acorn squash has 9g of fiber per cooked cup)
• pumpkin
• garlic (one clove of garlic per day can have an anticoagulant effect)
• beets 
• carrots (the bioavailability increases by 85% when carrots are cooked)
• avocado
• lima beans
• artichoke
• peas
• edamame

How to Eat Enough Greens Each Day

There’s no wrong time for greens!

You can eat them morning, noon, and night, and include them with breakfast, lunch, and dinner. They make a wonderful snack, and Greens are even my #1 go-to secret weapon against late night sugar cravings!

It’s a good idea to regularly rotate which greens you’re eating, because no single food contains all of the vitamins and minerals we need – therefore, a balanced and varied diet is necessary to hit all the bases on a regular basis.

Even with so many great Green options, it can still be tough to find enough creative ways to include them each and every day.

Here are some of the ways I get them in on a daily basis…

Green Smoothies: This is my favorite way to ensure I get enough Greens each day in my diet. You can find many Green Smoothie recipes on the blog, and for many more, each of my eating guide programs contains numerous unique Green Smoothie recipes. I’ve included a guide here for you to create your own:

Greens Supplements: Berry Green Protein is my 100% organic, high protein (18g protein per serving), nutrient-dense whole food powder that combines 15 superfood greens and berries into one delicious smooth strawberry vanilla flavored shake!

It’s great if your’e on the go or just want an additional serving of greens (and protein) in your day!

Salads: Keep salads interesting by varying their colors, textures, and varieties. Perk them up with small tender leafy greens such as romaine lettuce, spinach, and arugula mixed with different kinds of accompaniments such as tomatoes, cucumbers, and carrots.

Wraps: Make a wrap with tuna, chicken or turkey and add romaine lettuce, spinach, arugula, and other veggies for some extra flavor.

Add to soup: Add greens with larger, tougher leaves such as collard greens, kale or mustard greens into your favorite soup.

Sautee or Stir-fry: Add chopped spinach, bok choy, or broccoli to chicken or tofu stir-fried with olive or avocado oil with some garlic, onion or ginger.

Steamed: Steaming collard greens, mustard greens, kale, Swiss chard or spinach until they are slightly soft is a great option.

Egg Breakfast: Add steamed broccoli and/or spinach to an egg-white omelet for a vitamin and iron rich meal.

Let me support you with a healthy eating plan that incorporates all the nutrients you need to thrive!

The Body Fuel System #BFS will….

• BOOST your metabolism to its OPTIMAL state
• Speed up FAT LOSS – naturally
• ELIMINATE the need to count, track or obsess over calories, points or numbers
• Support you to LOOK and FEEL YOUR PERSONAL BEST… and stay that way – all while eating foods that taste great!

The Body Fuel System uses my simple, proven Eating Types to make it easy to stay on track. It also gives you healthy, fat-burning recipes and foods you can eat to look and feel your BEST every day!

Recipes like….

This is my signature eating system and it contains 6 weeks of done-for-you meal planning and recipe guides! You will not only learn the strategies that have given me long-term success, but also enjoy the time-saving benefits of having it all planned out for you! 

Learn more right here, and find out why people love this program so much!

The post Greens 101 appeared first on The Betty Rocker.

I hear this question so often that it’s clear to me how many people still fall victim to the old myth that eating foods that contain fat will add fat to their body. This is simply not how it works.

The truth is, we gain body fat for any number of reasons, including eating too much of the wrong foods, eating too much in general, not getting enough sleep, and living high-stress lives.

But including proper amounts of healthy fat into our diets is not one of those reasons.

In fact, fat as a nutrient is just as important for our body as protein, complex carbs, and greens.

The real story behind the modern epidemic of excess flab on our bodies comes from consuming so many processed and refined foods – they are EVERYWHERE in today’s modern Western diet, and they dull the body’s natural feedback loop that tells us when we’re full.

Without this very important line of communication, we keep eating and eating and eating, while our waistlines keep growing and growing and growing.

How Overeating Processed Foods Affects Our Body Fat

It’s not entirely our fault when we can’t stop eating processed foods.

Flavors are carefully engineered to be more appealing, compelling, and even addictive to consumers, but the nutrient density of foods is clearly weakened by processing.

When foods are stripped of their natural fat, it’s almost always replaced with some form of sugar or salt – and it’s that excess sugar that overloads your body, and directly translates to excess body fat.

One of the biggest misunderstandings people have is thinking that eating foods that contain fat naturally (think whole eggs, avocado, quality salmon, nuts, olive oil) will make them, fat, but it actually will NOT.

It’s the sugar-laden, sodium-laced, highly processed foods that pad our waistline.

If you’ve ever examined the food label on a fat-free yogurt and compared it to a full-fat yogurt (if you can even find one), you’ll usually find that the fat-free yogurt contains more sugar and/or sodium than the full-fat version. That’s because the product simply doesn’t taste very good without the fat. Same thing with powdered peanut butter – the fat gets stripped out, and sugar gets added in to make it palatable.

This does you NO favors….as I talked about in the in-depth overview of carbs recently – over-consuming added sugar in your food is one of the primary culprits in weight gain.

Your body simply cannot utilize all the excess sugar – it doesn’t have the capacity to store it in your muscles or liver, and you don’t need it for energy – so it packages it up as body fat.

How Stress Affects Body Fat

Another reason we can’t seem to get the excess body fat to come off is stress.

Stress raises your levels of a hormone called cortisol. In its normal capacity, cortisol has several key roles in the body, but none more relevant to this discussion than its ability to raise blood glucose levels when it skyrockets due to stress.

Cortisol has been studied for its propensity to deposit the fat in the abdominal area – and researchers believe it’s a primary cause of belly fat in highly stressed people.

When a stressful event or feeling is over and you still have high blood glucose levels, that glucose gets stored as fat. Most notably, BELLY FAT.

To avoid having this affect your waistline, find natural ways to reduce your stress. Simple breathing techniques, visualizations, gratitudes, mindfulness activities, yoga, and more can all be amazing stress relievers.

Consider your stress levels while you’re eating as well. Are you coming to the meal calm and unhurried, or anxious and rushed? It makes a difference. See if you can slow down your bites of food, or count how many times you chew your food. Breathe while you eat, and stop to notice how your food tastes. This can really affect the amount of cortisol that’s running through your system.

How Sleep Affects Body Fat

Yet another reason extra fat will cling to our bodies is a lack of proper rest.

When we sleep, our body processes the food we ate during the day, our mind processes events and thoughts, and our body is better able to maintain homeostasis.

Studies show that getting enough rest allows you to perform better, regulate your hormones so you actually metabolize fats more efficiently, reduce stress (helpful!), improve focus, creativity and memory, and regulates and reduces inflammation.

Just 3-4 nights of limited sleep (approximately 4-5 hours of sleep is considered sleep deprivation for most of us) can cause insulin resistance comparable to a Type 2 diabetic – which is a science-y way of saying that with inadequate sleep, your body has a really hard time digesting carbs and sugars effectively leading to… you guessed it, fat gain.

It can also throw off a number of other hormones like leptin and ghrelin, which help regulate appetite control.

So do your best to get enough rest – if you have trouble falling asleep, try using some of the suggestions that help lower stress levels from above. Try turning off your phone and electronics an hour or two before bedtime, and get deeper sleep by limiting all non-natural light sources in your sleep environment.

Can I Exercise my Fat off with Targeted Workouts?

Unfortunately, just doing ab or butt or arm workouts won’t magically melt the fat off those areas. The truth is, we can’t “spot reduce” fat – and I would caution you against supplements, cleanses or other quick fixes like body wraps that promise to do so.

Those are short-term strategies that carry the risk of long-term hormone imbalance, and they are incapable of providing real, sustainable results.

Good news though, you CAN get the fat off – and keep it off.

Fat comes off our body systemically (all over) in an order it went on – which is primarily governed by our DNA. We have different kinds of receptors in our fat tissues, essentially called alpha receptors and beta receptors.

The alpha receptors slow fat loss release, and beta receptors speed fat release. The stubborn fat areas have more alpha receptors, and simply will take a bit longer to come off than other areas of the body.

A training program that contains a combination of resistance and high-intensity interval training (like my Home Workout Domination program) with a balanced whole food diet including all the nutrients (like healthy fat) – is your ticket to getting and keeping your body in its optimal state.

5 Reasons We Need Body Fat:

Keep in mind that all human beings need some fat on their frames – it’s essential to our survival. Too little body fat is just as problematic as too much.

Here are the top 5 ways body fat is our friend:

1. Fat is literally stored energy.

Although the main source of energy for our bodies is carbohydrates, fat is used as a source of backup energy in cases when carbs are not available.

Fat, therefore, helps you stabilize your energy, providing both immediate bursts when necessary, and slow-release through extended periods of rest.

2. Your brain uses fat to function.

Structurally, 60% of our brain is composed of fat, which forms the structure of our cell membranes, so a steady, daily stream of fatty acids is required for your brain to properly develop and function.

Additionally, fat creates the structural components for myelin, a fatty insulating sheath that surrounds various nerve fibers, helping them carry messages more quickly.

3. Fat helps us regulate our body temperature.

There is a thin fat layer located right underneath the skin designed to insulate the body, helping us maintain the proper body temperature.

In addition to insulating, this layer of fat can also protect the inner core from extreme temperature changes by generating and then releasing heat when our skin temperature significantly drops.

4. Fat protects our internal organs.

The body also has a layer of fat surrounding major organs like the brain and heart, as well as nerves, tissues, and bones.

This layer is designed to act as a protective cushion in the event that you suddenly experience impact or even trauma, providing shock absorption around your essential organs, thereby decreasing the chance for significant damage.

5. Fat produces and regulates specifically helpful hormones.

Hormones are chemical messengers that regulate processes in our body. In response to signals from other organs, your body fat produces hormones that help with a variety of important functions, from blood clotting to sex hormone metabolism.

Too little (or too much) body fat and our hormones can get all out of whack, creating a whole host of unwanted issues.

5 Ways Eating Fat Keeps Us Lean:

Now that we’ve established why we need body fat, let’s look at how dietary fats play into the equation. There are actually some very compelling reasons to regularly include healthy fats into your diet.

In fact, here’s how eating the right amounts of the healthy fats will help you lean out.

1. Some Vitamins your body loves and needs – like A, D, E, and K – need Fat in order to be useful.

If you don’t put enough fat in your diet, it’s not difficult to become deficient in one or more of these vitamins, and you don’t want that because they do some pretty important stuff!

Vitamin A is responsible for promoting good vision and keeping our eyes healthy; vitamin D helps us absorb calcium; vitamin E neutralizes free radicals, protecting cells in the process; and vitamin K is essential for blood clotting.

These are known as fat-soluble vitamins, which means fat must be present in order for them to be absorbed and processed by the body. Wholesome, healthy fats provide your body with the ability to do this by first shuttling and then dissolving the vitamins, micronutrients, and phytochemicals they supply into your body.

2. Eating fat promotes weight loss by curbing the tendency to overeat.

Healthy fat is very satiating, especially when paired with foods that don’t irritate your digestive system. This means you feel fuller faster, which means you are less likely to overeat! Combining a delicious grass-fed burger topped with avocado and a side of quinoa or baked sweet potato is far more satisfying and filling than some bread and jam.

You could eat an entire loaf of bread and not feel as satisfied as you would from the burger meal. Eating the balance of protein, carbohydrates, AND fat ensures you’ll be full enough to stop eating when you’re full.

3. Eating fat prevents weight gain by stabilizing blood sugar levels.

The consumption of fat before or with any carbohydrate meal slows the rate at which food exits your stomach.

This stabilizes blood sugar levels, preventing harmful insulin spikes that trigger fat storage and lead to weight gain.

(This is one of the reasons you want to avoid fat consumption immediately post-workout – more on that below!)

4. Eating regular amounts of fat gives you consistent energy for your workouts.

Along with glycogen (your body’s glucose stores), fat is burned during exercise to spare precious protein in your muscles.

It is also the primary fuel for the body at rest. When dietary fat levels drop too low, your body may actually start trying to hold onto body fat to protect you from starving. Don’t trigger that switch!

5. Eating the right kind of fat reduces inflammation in the body.

Inflammation caused by eating foods that irritate our systems or cause an allergic reaction will expedite weight gain, and lessen the effectiveness of leptin, the hormone that helps regulate food intake, maintain a healthy body weight, and ensure your metabolism is in top working order.

Healthy fats like Omega-3s help stimulates the production and secretion of leptin. They also reduce inflammation throughout the body, help prevent cancer cell growth, prevent excessive blood clotting, and inhibit thickening of the arteries.

By mindfully including more Omega-3 foods in our diet, we can trigger the body to lose unnecessary weight and keep it off, while benefiting from all the other nutrients in those foods as well. Focus on the foods from the lists below and you’ll support all of your body’s natural fat regulation processes!

Good sources of Omega-3:

• flaxseed
• cod liver oil
• walnuts
• soybeans
• sardines
• oysters
• salmon
• mackerel

What Kind of Fat Should I Limit or Avoid in my Diet?

On the other end of the dietary fat spectrum are saturated and trans fats.

Saturated Fats

Saturated fat occurs naturally in many foods such as meat, dairy products, palm and coconut oils, and cocoa butter. Despite its reputation, including naturally-occurring saturated fat in moderation into our diet is not bad for us.

This does not mean that you should just start eating saturated fat with abandon, especially if you’re trying to lose a significant amount of weight. Again, moderation is key.

Get most of your dietary fat from the Omegas we talked about above, a minimal amount from Saturated Fats, and steer as clear as possible from Trans Fats (below), and you’ll be right on track.

Trans Fats

Trans-fatty acids also subject us to inflammation and contribute to free radical formation. You’ve heard of free radicals before I’m sure, and how eating antioxidant-rich foods like leafy greens, berries, beans, and spices protects you from their potentially harmful effects.

A diet that contains a lot of trans fats is very unlikely to contain many of those antioxidant-rich foods, and will raise your bad (LDL) cholesterol levels while lowering your good (HDL) cholesterol levels. This can raise blood pressure and harden the arteries, increasing the risk of stroke and heart attack.

Trans-fatty acids are in so many commercially sold products, like margarine, vegetable shortening, pre- made baked goods like sweet rolls, cookies, and pre-made cakes and frostings. They are also present in things like frozen drinks, fried chicken, French fries, breakfast sandwiches, meat sticks, crackers, packaged pudding, canned chili, frozen dinners, and ice cream.

An easy way to find out if the food you’re eating has trans-fat is to simply check the ingredients label for the word hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oil. #themoreyouknow

How Much Healthy Fat do I Need to Eat?

As we’ve seen, eating healthy fat in your food boosts your brain power, enhances your body’s ability to lose stubborn body fat, and provides you with lasting energy that can eliminate cravings, mood swings, and poor sleep.

The amount of fat you need each day depends on your daily nutritional needs, which are of course based on your size and activity level. As a general rule of thumb, aim for 20-35% of your total daily intake to come from fat.

Speaking of “rule of THUMB” I measure my fat in meals by eyeballing the portion of fat to the size of my thumb. I go for the smaller side if the food is in a liquid form (oil) and a little larger when it’s in solid form (peanut butter, nuts, avocado).

Balance is key in fat consumption; eating enough of the good stuff (nuts, avocados, flax, salmon, etc.) promotes weight loss and weight maintenance. Eating too much of the bad stuff (ice cream, cake, pastries, pizza, etc.) promotes weight gain. Focus on emphasizing whole food fat sources.

When Should I Eat Healthy Fat?

I purposely include some healthy fat with almost every meal and snack and it is NOT making me fat – it’s helping me stay full and satisfied so I don’t overeat and don’t end up having cravings for more food later. It’s easy to do, and healthy fat is present in many of the wholesome recipes in my meal plans.

Betty Rocker’s Favorites: Healthy Fat Sources

Use this list to get you started and as an “including but not limited to” type of guideline while discovering YOUR favorite sources of healthy fats.

• Nuts and seeds: Walnuts, almonds, Brazil nuts, pecans, cashews, pistachios, flax seeds, sesame seeds, hemp seeds, chia seeds, pine nuts, pumpkin seeds, filberts
• Dairy: Butter, Greek yogurt, ghee, some cheeses
• From the Farm: Eggs, grass-fed meats, organic and farm-raised poultry, liver, goat butter
• Plants: Avocado, olives, coconut, peanuts, peanut butter, soybeans
• Fish: salmon, mackerel, albacore tuna, herring, lake trout, cod liver oil, sardines, bluefish (I order all my fish wild-caught fresh and frozen from Vital Choice Seafood)
• Oils*: olive oil, walnut oil, sesame oil, avocado oil, peanut oil, grapeseed oil, sunflower oil

Find these (and more!) deliciously balanced recipes on the blog right now:

• Tuna Avocado Salad
• Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein French Toast
• Baked Salmon with Grainy Mustard, Parsley and Sliced Shallots
• White Chia Grapefruit Ginger Cups

The Bottom Line: Eating Good Fat Keeps You Healthy and Lean

Eating a variety of dietary fat with an emphasis on the Omega-3s will not only regulate all your essential cellular functions, it will keep you lean as well.

I hope this article has shown you there is nothing to fear about fat. In fact, we’ve discovered quite the opposite is true – adding steady doses of healthy fats to your diet will help you be stronger, leaner, healthier and more confident than ever that the food choices you’re making are promoting a long, rich life in your best body – which of course is what being a Betty Rocker is all about!

Need some help with healthy eating? When planning for the week, I think about:

• 2-3 breakfast options I like 
• A few entrees that could double as dinner or lunch 
• A couple smoothie ideas that have complimentary ingredients to give you variety with your greens
• A snack option like homemade protein muffins or an easy to make trail mix for days you’re just hungrier and want a little more to eat.
• Round out your plan with a couple of staple sides that you would like to have on hand daily like a big mixed greens salad and some rice, quinoa or easy to grab sweet potato chunks…

……and then make your grocery list around that.  

Or, you can let me make the whole plan for you, with so many delicious, easy and healthy recipes!

The 30 Day Challenge Meal Plan includes all the recipes and grocery lists for breakfasts, smoothies, sides, snacks and entrees for 4 full weeks – with plenty of delicious options and structure to help you eat right for YOUR life!

Check out everything included in the 30 Day Challenge Meal Plan right here, and let me make your life easier!

The post Healthy Fats 101 appeared first on The Betty Rocker.

I know carbs can be a source of confusion – but they’re actually a very important body fuel source that provide immediate – and stored – energy. 

When you choose your carbs from whole food options, you can reap the rewards of all of their energy, fiber, vitamins, minerals and delicious flavors in your meals. 

On that note, let’s clarify what I mean by “whole foods”. These are simply foods being prepared and eaten in their natural, unprocessed state, and they can be from animal or plant sources. Some great options for whole food carbs include fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes (1).

Whole food carbs not only taste fantastic – they also support lean muscle development and provide stable energy – and you can enjoy them without worrying they might sabotage your goals or pad your body with fat. 

But it’s a real thing that eating an excess of carbohydrates (or any other nutrients) can have that effect, and it’s much more likely to happen when you’re making your food choices from foods that contain extra sugar (i.e. processed foods) than what you’d find in the food’s natural state.

What Are Carbohydrates?

Carbohydrates are organic (carbon-containing) compounds found in food that contain naturally-occurring sugars (such as glucose and fructose), starch, and/or fiber (2). 

All whole food carbohydrates include plenty of phytonutrients, vitamins, and minerals that will support your system and your cells in all their tasks. Carbs ultimately break down chemically to glucose – a simple sugar that serves as the body and brain’s preferred energy source.

Fiber is an important component in whole food carbohydrates that slows the release of sugar into the blood, which gives you more steady energy, supports your healthy gut bacteria and immune system, and supports an optimal digestive flow (3). 

Fiber allows for all of these benefits because it is not fully broken down during carbohydrate digestion, so what is not used for other functions in the body is excreted by the bowels (2). 

There are two types of fiber – soluble and insoluble. 

Just like the name implies, insoluble fiber is not soluble in water, so it passes through the body intact. This can be beneficial if you have a fussy digestive system, as it can add bulk to your stools and help bowel movements become more regular. 

Soluble fiber, on the other hand, can help to slow down digestion, allowing you to feel full longer (4). For instance, eating a whole apple (rich in dietary fiber) will make you feel full longer (and leave you less likely to reach for more food) compared to the same number of calories as apple juice (a lower-fiber food). Soluble fiber also plays a role in heart health and maintaining optimal blood sugar levels.

Healthy women should aim for at least 25 to 30 grams of fiber daily from nutritious whole food sources (2, 5). This may sound like a lot, but if your diet includes plenty of fruit, vegetables, whole grains, and beans, you’ll find that the fiber grams add up quickly. 

However, make sure you don’t do too much too fast – increasing your fiber intake too quickly can cause all kinds of digestive issues such as cramping, gas, or diarrhea. Just take it slow and drink plenty of water, and you should be able to avoid stomach troubles.

In fact, fiber supports healthy gut bacteria and optimal digestion. Fiber feeds the beneficial bacteria in your gut and not only helps the bacteria thrive, but also increases their numbers (6). This in turn impacts the thickness of the mucus wall in the gut while building a strong barrier against toxins and disease-causing bacteria.

Starch is another compound found in carbohydrates, specifically those from plant sources. Starch is structurally made up of polysaccharide compounds known as amylose and amylopectin (7). 

Naturally-occurring sugars are also found in whole food carbs – such as lactose in dairy foods and fructose in fruit. Make sure not to confuse these with added sugars – naturally-occurring sugars play important roles in your body and health, and they are perfectly fine to consume in moderation.

You might have heard the terms “simple” and “complex” carbs being used. This classification isn’t really used by health professionals anymore, but the general idea is still valid. Complex carbohydrates contain fiber, starch, and sugars, while simple carbohydrates just contain sugars – either naturally-occurring or added (2). 

The simpler a carb is, the faster it will be digested and absorbed into your bloodstream and the more complex a carb is, the slower it is digested and absorbed, allowing for steadier energy and easier fat loss. Some great complex carb options include sweet potatoes, apples, and lentils.

In general, your best bet is to go for complex carbs that are higher in fiber. Not only will they be more filling, they’ll also keep you satisfied longer, which is a great option for anyone focused on fat loss or maintenance.

What Happens in Your Body When You Eat Carbs?

Your body breaks carbohydrates down into glucose molecules, which get carried in the bloodstream to your cells. The body uses glucose either as immediate energy to fuel your muscles and brain, or converts it into glycogen and stores it in the liver or muscles as reserve energy.

Used for immediate energy (as glucose):

After a meal, the carbohydrates you’ve eaten are broken down into their smallest building blocks (glucose molecules), which eventually are absorbed into the bloodstream through special cells in the small intestine. As glucose travels through your blood to your cells, it’s called blood glucose (or blood sugar.) 

An essential part of maintaining homeostasis (balance) in the body is the regulation of blood sugar levels – so we have the energy we need to do everything we do. 

Your body has a process to handle the inflow of glucose (after you eat) so you can meet your energy needs and store whatever isn’t immediately needed for later use. These energy reserves are important, and are what your body draws on when you need energy between meals.

After you eat, your pancreas releases the hormone insulin. Insulin travels through the blood to your body’s cells. It tells the liver, muscle and fat cells to take in glucose so it can be used for energy right away, or stored for later use. 

When it comes to immediate energy needs, your brain is a primary consumer of glucose. In humans, the brain accounts for about 2% of total body weight, but it consumes approximately 20% of glucose-derived energy.

Stored for later use (as glycogen):

Excess glucose from carbs that isn’t needed for immediate energy gets stored in the liver and muscles (8).

Your liver can store approximately 50-80g of glycogen, and your muscles can store approximately 300-400g of glycogen. This stored form of glucose allows your body to consistently regulate its energy needs and have a storage “tank” to draw from when circulating glucose levels are low.

Strategically eating whole-food carbs in moderate amounts throughout the day ensures adequate glucose reserves and stable energy.

When receptor cells sense that glucose is needed, the pancreas secretes glucagon (a hormone), which alerts the liver and muscles to release stored glycogen back into the bloodstream as glucose for cells to use as an energy source.

Most of your body’s cells use glucose, fatty acids (from fat), and amino acids (from protein) for energy, but glucose is the main energy source for your brain and nervous system.

Your muscle tissue has the potential to store a lot of glucose (as glycogen), which is why adding lean muscle with the workouts you do and the food you eat is so important. 

The more muscle you have, the greater your capacity to store glycogen, which is why highly-active people and athletes have greater carbohydrate needs. Need more motivation to exercise? People who are less physically active have less glycogen storage capacity, and excess glucose is more likely to be stored as fat.

However, if you’ve already maxed out the amount of storage available in your liver and muscles, your body stores extra glucose as fat. One way that you can help to keep this balance in check is to keep an eye on the glycemic index (GI) of the food you eat.

The GI is a scale of 1 to 100 (with 100 equivalent to glucose) that measures the effect of food on blood glucose (sugar) levels (9). Foods that contain fiber tend to have lower GI than those that do not. For example, apples have a GI of 36, while white bread has a GI of 75. However, some fruits do have high GI, such as watermelon – a GI of 76. 

When you eat foods with a high GI, your pancreas releases insulin to mediate the rapid influx of glucose in the blood. These blood glucose fluctuations can make you feel tired and sluggish, and excess carbs from these foods can ultimately be earmarked for fat storage.

Obviously we don’t want to be in “fat storage mode” when we’re working on getting lean and mean, so choosing carbs with a lower GI can help you minimize fat storage. 

Hormones also play a huge role in your food intake, metabolic equilibrium, and weight. Your body wants to be in balance, and your hormones are responsible for establishing equilibrium when given the right nutrients. Some key hormones involved in energy and carbohydrate metabolism include cholecystokinin (CCK), ghrelin, leptin, and insulin (10). 

Here’s where it gets cool: You can avoid storing carbs as fat by just making smart choices. The best way to get into optimal “fat burning mode” and have maximum energy is to make your carbohydrate choices from whole food sources, and avoid the fake stuff. 

I don’t recommend a no-carb or low-carb diet for any length of time. Long term carbohydrate deprivation leads to a complete depletion of your body’s storage glycogen levels, depression of your immune system, reduced exercise tolerance, decreased metabolic function, and a host of other issues (11). 

There are many dietary strategies that are beneficial – and I encourage you to experiment just as I have. I want you to have a healthy relationship with food and a strong foundational understanding of how each nutrient benefits you, so you can learn to listen to the signals your body sends you and change things up with confidence when needed. 

Complex carbohydrates provide your body with fiber, essential nutrients, immediate energy, and energy reserves. Fat slows down the absorption and digestion of carbs, providing a steady, ongoing supply of glucose (keeping insulin levels steady), and will make you feel full sooner. Protein provides your body with essential amino acids necessary for muscle growth and hormone production, plus it stimulates the release of the fat burning hormone, glucagon, thereby maximizing your ability to burn stored body fat for energy. 

Why Do I Get Cravings?

First, processed foods in your diet can play a role (12). If your diet is high in sugar and simple carbs, your  body eventually gets used to the short bursts of sudden energy those foods deliver. Of course, that energy disappears as quickly as it arrived, and when that inevitable blood sugar crash hits, your body starts searching frantically for the next carb “hit.” This is when you experience cravings, fatigue, and even mood swings.

Cravings can also come from addiction to sugar and result from your body being triggered by sugar and its reward effect on your brain to keep seeking more (13). Although the idea of sugar addiction is controversial and mostly anecdotal right now, you may be among the many people who do feel a strong mental and/or physical attachment to sugar, so that feeling shouldn’t be minimized or ignored.

So, how do you avoid this blood sugar rollercoaster ride? 

Eating regular, satisfying meals with diverse nutrients will ensure that your body knows when it’s full – and in turn, it will tell you when it’s hungry. 

If you find that you constantly struggle with cravings, check in with your food intake. Are you eating enough protein, fiber-rich greens, and healthy fats? These nutrients deliver slow, lasting energy to the body just like complex carbohydrates do. Don’t skimp on these vital nutrients!

Take a look at the specific foods you eat, as well. If you buy any convenience or packaged foods, they often contain added sugar. Even with your best intentions, you might be unintentionally eating more sugar than you mean to all day long – and by the time you get to that evening glass of wine or purposeful dessert, you’re likely already way over the amount of sugar your body can use for energy.

You can also help your body to better handle carbohydrates and minimize cravings by including more fiber in your diet. Fiber can help to blunt the insulin response to increased circulating glucose levels, as well as suppressing your appetite and keeping energy levels consistent (2).

Another aspect of your diet to evaluate is the nutrient claims associated with the foods you buy. Although low-fat or fat-free versions of things like peanut butter and yogurt seem like a healthy option, they might actually sabotage your efforts. Typically, the fats that are removed from these types of products are replaced with sugar or salt to make the food taste better. This might not sound like a big deal, but in losing the satiating effect of fat and adding in the slippery slope of sugar, you may be more likely to overeat these foods.

As we’ve already learned, if your glycogen stores are full, the extra glucose from these foods will ultimately end up in fat storage. This means that in your efforts to avoid storing fat on your body by buying a fat-free product, you actually increase the likelihood of fat storage happening.

Why you should cut down on snacking:

If you want steady energy, consistent results, and an optimal metabolic rate, you need to fuel your body in a way that encourages it to run as smoothly as possible.

Snacking can be a great way to keep your energy levels up between meals, especially for active people who are always on the go. However, your snacks should be purposeful and nutritious, not a mindless junk food buffet. 

 One way to ensure that you’re not consuming excessive amounts of food and sabotaging all of your hard work is to limit snacking. So many people miss out on the body of their dreams (despite crushing their workouts!) due to mindless snacking. 

Most popular snacks come in the form of high sodium and sugar – and let’s be honest, this habit is better for the snack food companies than it is for your body! Many processed snack foods have high amounts of added sugars – this gives the food a sweeter taste AND makes you want to keep eating (and buying!) the product.

If you need snacks to get you through long periods without full meals, think of creating them as “mini meals” so you remember to include whole food nutrients – especially protein, which is very satisfying. 

Keep in mind if you’re eating sufficient carbs from quality sources, your body has a glucose reserve stored in your muscles and liver so there’s no need to snack between meals unless you are actually hungry. However, you don’t want to deplete that reserve by avoiding or restricting carbs, so stick to nutritious whole foods and avoid fake, processed foods full of empty calories that can easily tip the scale toward fat storage. 

Curb your cravings by eating the RIGHT carbs at the RIGHT time.  I make this super easy with my meal plans.

Even if you’re sticking to your workouts, limiting snacking, and eating nutritious and satisfying meals, cravings can still pop up from time to time. So, now what can you do? Here are a few options:

For starters, keep an eye on the sugar YOU add to foods. Your morning coffee can be a great place to start. If you like your coffee light and sweet, add a sprinkle of cinnamon (more on that later!), a teaspoon or two of coconut oil, or even a little bit of coconut cream.

Next, watch out for foods with added sugar. This isn’t always apparent from giving the food label a quick peek, although some foods will include an “added sugars” column on the label.

Otherwise, you can calculate the amount of sugar (this isn’t necessarily the same as added sugars, as many do occur naturally) by comparing the grams of sugar listed to the grams of carbohydrates. For example, if a food lists 24g carbohydrates and 20g of sugar, you can bet that food is high in sugar and probably not a great choice to help you achieve your goals.

If you like spices, cinnamon may be your new favorite! Studies have found that cinnamon (especially cassia and Ceylon varieties) have a beneficial effect on keeping blood glucose levels stable by slowing the rate at which food exits the stomach (14). I like to sprinkle it in my coffee, on my oatmeal, and even into smoothies. Don’t overdo it with the cinnamon, though – as with all spices, a little goes a long way! Try to limit it to a teaspoon per day.

Make good choices when it comes to your beverages. Avoid soda, and opt for fresh whole fruit rather than fruit juices. Although 100% fruit juices may sound like a good option, they lack the fiber and other nutrients found in the skin and flesh of whole fruit. Think of sweetened drinks (such as lemonade, iced tea, fruit punch, soda, cocktails) as “liquid candy”, and try to avoid them. Similarly, unless you need them to get through a particularly strenuous workout, limit high-sugar sports drinks (such as Gatorade, Powerade, and Vitamin Water).

Many eating programs urge you to eat the same foods every day. Although there is something to be said for simplicity, limiting the foods you eat decreases the variety of nutrients available to you (and your beneficial gut bacteria!). It’s also really boring to eat this way! I don’t like being bored, but I DO like simplicity and efficiency.

So, over the course of a week, eating similar foods works great to cut down the amount of time you’ll need to spend in the kitchen. But throughout the month, and throughout different seasons, your body is going to like and want different foods. As you become more and more in tune with your body, you’ll notice this too. Adding a bit of variety into your diet can keep you from getting bored and craving something different.

When Should I Eat Carbs?

When it comes to carbs from whole foods, try to figure out what makes you feel satisfied and energized. If you’re using one of my eating guides, there are daily menus with suggested meals from the recipes in the guide to help you experiment. With or without my guides, experiment to see how eating carbs affects your energy.(Here’s my 3-day easy eating guide with some sample recipes and suggested meals!)

If your goal is to GET AND STAY LEAN, the best times to eat optimal carbs are:

1: Morning

Your body uses up a good portion of your glycogen stores overnight, and breakfast is the perfect time to replenish glucose and top off those stores. It’s always best to consume protein and carbs together (especially after a workout) because the elevated insulin levels from the carbs help your muscles absorb amino acids from protein. Amino acids are then used to help your body with various processes such as building muscle and regulating immune function (15).

My breakfast always includes carbs like overnight steel cut oatmeal (you can also mix in a scoop of chocolate protein powder to add extra awesome), eggs with a sprouted grain or gluten-free toast, or a protein pancake topped with fruit.

2: Before your workout

I recommend eating your healthy, complex, whole-food carbs around your workouts because they help your muscles use more protein.

In general, I don’t focus on having a “pre” and “post” workout meal, shake, or bar. Your body does keep energy on reserve in the form of glycogen, and it’s OK if you don’t get in the habit of eating something before exercising or right away after you finish. What really matters is your energy levels – if you find that you’re tired, light-headed, or just plain hungry, then you should probably eat something.

Eating carbs in your main meal prior to working out simply gives you energy to burn during the workout. It’s totally fine to train first thing in the morning if you haven’t eaten yet, but if you’re exercising at a time of day that’s after a meal this applies. If you find your energy levels waning during your workout, it might be a good idea to check out your meal and workout timing and adjust them to allow for optimal energy. 

If you’re hungry going into a workout, you can always have something light like a smoothie or shake. Make sure it contains quality ingredients like protein, greens, and fruit to provide you with quick energy.

If you exercise first thing in the morning, whether you need to eat first is a pretty personal thing. If you find that your energy levels are high before a morning workout without eating beforehand, then you certainly don’t need to force yourself to eat.

3: Post workout

After a workout (within about 1 hour is always a good rule of thumb), make sure your next meal includes both carbs and protein to replenish muscle glycogen stores. It’s fine if the meal also contains fat and greens, but prioritize your protein and carbohydrates. If you skip the post-workout carbs, exercise recovery can take longer, soreness may increase, and you may even lose muscle tissue over time.

You might like to schedule your workout just before a meal, but definitely don’t plan to workout just after a meal – your body needs time to digest and process food first!

If you know you’re not going to be able to get a meal in after your workout and you’ll be hungry, having your shaker cup and Berry Green Protein with you can do the trick. By nourishing you with protein and greens (and a great taste, even just in water!), you’ll avoid that energy drop after your endorphins wear off.

4: Bedtime

I always cut off my food intake (all foods, not just carbs) 3 hours before bedtime to give my system time to wind down and prepare for high-quality sleep. You don’t need to stick to exactly 3 hours, but if you struggle with falling or staying asleep, providing your body with a bit of a food-free buffer before bedtime can work wonders.

Of course, don’t just take my word for it. There are many different possibilities for what could work best for you, so just pay attention to what feels right to you from day to day!

NOT ALL CARBS ARE CREATED EQUAL: A Word on “Good” and “Bad” Carbs

While it’s true that carbs can provide you with a stored energy pool AND deliver consistent, lasting energy to your body, not all carbs are created equal, and it’s important to eat the most beneficial ones.

As long as you’re eating intentionally, you can allow for any food you choose for special occasions, weekend treats, or what I call “No Strings Attached” (NSA) meals.

That said, there ARE certain types of carbs that will serve you and your healthy eating lifestyle better than others – I prefer to think of these two distinct groups as “Optimal” and “Suboptimal” carbs. 

Whole, nutritious foods not only contain nutrients such as fiber, minerals, and vitamins – they also communicate this nutritional information to your body (in a language it recognizes) so it knows exactly what to do with the influx of nutrients. 

When you eat satisfying foods such as complex carbs, your body communicates back to you with easy-to-understand information like “I’m full”.

On the other hand, carbs in a less wholesome form (think of potato chips or snack mixes) tend to be filled with ingredients like sugar, salt, stabilizers, or fillers in order to taste better. These carbs tend to be less satisfying (and less nutritious), and your body will likely keep saying “I’m hungry” as you keep munching away.

So, how do you know the difference between Optimal and Suboptimal Carbs?

Simply put, how much has the food been processed? The most nutritious carbs are like the best proteins and fats, they come to us from nature. If they are a single ingredient, you’ve got an optimal carb. If it’s been altered from its natural, whole-food state in any way, it’s probably a sub-optimal choice (or perhaps just better left to an NSA day).

A lot of “health” food carbs that come in a box or bag – like breakfast cereal, instant oatmeal, breads/tortillas, condiments, and snack foods – are a processed version of a whole food, and the processing alters the nutritional density of that food.

Most processed foods are low in naturally-occurring fiber, vitamins, and minerals and higher in sugar than their whole-food counterparts.

For example, white flour is missing the nutrients that the plant contained before it was harvested. Combining white flour, sugar and other ingredients to make pastries, breads, snacks and sweets might be convenient and tasty, but to your body it’s like speaking a foreign language when you pump all these substances into it.

This is where the term “empty calories” comes from. These foods have calories but lack the nutrient density found in the whole food form. Eating these empty-calorie foods can also set you up for cravings – not only is your body hungry for the actual nutrients it needs to function, but those engineered flavors trick your brain into thinking it’s getting a reward every time you eat a certain snack food or treat.

Filling up on empty calories is like injecting yourself with fat. If you fill up on crappy food, it becomes harder to get enough essential nutrients without gaining weight. Your body knows when it’s full or not regardless of the nutrient density of your food. If you’re eating low-nutrient-density foods, your body won’t receive the “full” signal until you reach a maximum volume of food. If you’ve eaten until you feel bloated and overfed, this is exactly what happened.

This is why so many people simply cannot lose the extra weight, no matter how hard they try to “clean up” their diet or how much they exercise.

An organic or a gluten-free cookie might sound like a better choice, but it doesn’t make the cut either for whole-food carbs. These terms simply refer to the ingredients used in making the cookies, and it doesn’t automatically classify them as “healthy” or whole. Cookies are cookies, and organic and gluten-free cookies contain excess sugar and carbs just like conventional ones do.

We all know how easy it is to eat an entire sleeve of Oreos, a whole bag of corn chips, or drink a super-size soda at the movies. If we could stop at just one or two bites, snack foods wouldn’t be such a problem. However, food manufacturers know just how to manipulate sugar and salt and structurally re-engineer flavors, tastes, colors, and smells to make food have a longer shelf life, stimulate your taste buds, and generally be more appealing to consumers.

Start making your own food, and the processed stuff will start to taste as artificial and weird as its ingredients actually are. You’ll likely notice a difference in the way you feel pretty quickly once you start focusing on whole, optimal carbs.

What are Healthy Carbohydrate Options?

Like we already learned, a single-ingredient carb is typically an optimal carb.

Think potatoes, sweet potatoes, rice, quinoa or other grains, legumes, and fibrous vegetables like squash. Whole fruit is also a great carbohydrate source, but it tends to have a higher sugar concentration, so it should be consumed in moderation.

All optimal whole-food carbohydrates come complete with plenty of phytonutrients, vitamins, and minerals that will support your body and cells in all their functions.

Grains

Soaking, sprouting, or fermenting grains are always the best options for preparation. By breaking down the protective outer coating of the grain, these methods allow your body to get the full nutritional benefits of the grains without potential irritants.

Some examples:

• Gluten-free grains: Amaranth, buckwheat, millet, montina (Indian rice grass), quinoa, rice (all varieties, but especially wild, long-grain, and brown), sorghum, teff, oats, corn (higher in sugar, but fine on occasion)
• Grains that contain gluten: Wheat, barley, rye, spelt, kamut, triticale (a hybrid grain produced by crossing wheat and rye primarily used as a fodder crop)

Legumes

Legumes are a great whole-food carb AND a source of protein, which makes them a great addition to your diet.

Some examples:

• Beans: adzuki beans, black beans, white beans, soybeans, anasazi beans, fava beans, garbanzo beans (chickpeas), kidney beans and lima beans, and more
• Lentils: yellow, orange, green, brown or black
• Peas: split peas and black-eyed peas

Non-Starchy Vegetables

Colorful veggies and leafy greens are fiber-rich and nutrient dense and are full of highly beneficial micronutrients and phytonutrients. These veggies tend to be low in carbs, so you can fill up on them to your heart’s content!

Some examples:

• Kale, celeriac, spinach, endive, fennel, radicchio, chard, watercress, romaine, arugula, carrots, Brussel sprouts, cucumbers, tomatoes, cabbage, peppers, onions, artichoke, asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower, celery, collards, eggplant, garlic, leeks, radishes

Starchy Vegetables

Starchy vegetables will fill you up faster than non-starchy ones, so you won’t need as much of them. They are also a nutrient-dense carbohydrate source, providing sustainable energy. They do tend to be quite high in carbs, which can affect your blood glucose levels and be destined for fat storage if your glycogen levels are already maxed out. If you’re eating a balanced diet, this won’t be a problem ― it’s just good to know. 

Some examples:

• Sweet potatoes, beets, parsnips, pumpkin, squash, yams

Fruits

All fruits contain fructose, a simple sugar that your body uses for energy. Although fructose is chemically different from glucose, it is still a simple sugar. Your body has a limited capacity for fructose, and too much fructose can end up in fat storage, spike blood sugar and insulin levels, and set you up for cravings in the future.

The thing to pay attention to is the sugar quantity in the fruits you’re eating so you can still enjoy them in the right amount. Generally tropical fruits are higher in sugar and berries are lower. 

I’ve classified some popular fruits lists into low, medium, and high-sugar groups to help you keep portion size in mind. When I make a smoothie for example I don’t usually mix two tropical fruits, if I use a banana I balance it with berries. 

Some examples:

• Low sugar fruits: Apples, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, cherries, grapefruit, prunes, plums, peaches, pears, oranges, grapes, apricots
• Medium sugar fruits: Bananas (higher in sugar when very ripe), kiwi, mango, figs, raisins, cantaloupe, papaya, pineapple
• High sugar fruits: Dates, watermelon

Here are a few ideas for balanced whole-food carbs:

• Unicorn Bowl (blended overnight oatmeal, protein powder, almond milk, fruit)
• Buckwheat Bread 
• Protein pancakes 
• Sweet potatoes, grass-fed beef, and sautéed greens with garlic
• Beans, rice, baked chicken, and pesto
• Seafood stew made with butternut squash

Putting it all together

Taking all of this new information in can be A LOT. You might not feel like you know where to start.

My remedy for this begins with AWARENESS. Read food labels, avoid foods with added sugar, buy whole foods, eat and enjoy treats ON PURPOSE, and include carbs at optimal times so you can keep your body running like the efficient machine it was designed to be.

Here’s the bottom line: Carbs are fuel, and they affect your performance. 

Start paying attention to how the ones you eat make you feel. Choosing whole foods will help you feel and perform at your absolute best. The ones you eat on your NSA days will definitely get your attention. The more you tune in and learn to listen to what your body responds to, the more on track you’ll be to feeling and looking your best.

For more great content on nutrition, read the other articles from this series:

• Protein 101: How Much Protein You Need, How it Benefits You, and How to Get it in
• Healthy Fats 101: Get the Skinny on Fat – Why We Need it and How it Serves Us
• Incorporating Treats: How to Have a “No Strings Attached” (NSA) Relationship with Junk Food
• How Muscle Works: Sleek, Sculpted and Strong Starts Here
• You’re on A Journey: There’s No Such Thing as a Perfect Diet

Need some help with healthy eating? When planning for the week, I think about:

• 2-3 breakfast options I like 
• A few entrees that could double as dinner or lunch 
• A couple smoothie ideas that have complimentary ingredients to give you variety with your greens
• A snack option like homemade protein muffins or an easy to make trail mix for days you’re just hungrier and want a little more to eat.
• Round out your plan with a couple of staple sides that you would like to have on hand daily like a big mixed greens salad and some rice, quinoa or easy to grab sweet potato chunks…

……and then make your grocery list around that.  

Or, you can let me make the whole plan for you, with so many delicious, easy and healthy recipes!

The 30 Day Challenge Meal Plan includes all the recipes and grocery lists for breakfasts, smoothies, sides, snacks and entrees for 4 full weeks – with plenty of delicious options and structure to help you eat right for YOUR life!

Check out everything included in the 30 Day Challenge Meal Plan right here, and let me make your life easier!

The post Carbohydrates 101: How to Eat Carbs to Your Advantage appeared first on The Betty Rocker.

In this post:

• Protein: What makes it special?
• What does protein do?
• How your body uses protein
• Won’t eating protein make me bulk up?
• Are you eating enough protein?
• How much protein do you need?
• Good sources of protein

When creating any meal (from breakfast to smoothies to snacks and everything in between), protein is at the top of my list!

Protein is a major player when it comes to the way your body looks on the outside AND how it functions on the inside. It’s found in every cell, and plays a part in thousands of essential chemical reactions.  It’s needed for everything from hormone regulation and enzyme production to the regulation of muscle mass and body fat levels.

Eating a variety of protein-rich foods can help to support your ability to metabolize fat while supporting structural tissue (AKA muscle) production that can help sculpt a lean, fit physique.  

Protein is also important for healthy and vibrant skin, hair, and nails, as well as a healthy immune system and metabolism that can efficiently burn fat and keep you energized!

Protein: What Makes it Special?

Proteins are macromolecules that play a role in the majority of the processes that occur in your body. They are made of amino acids, which are building blocks that “code” for specific proteins as instructed by your DNA (pretty cool, right?).

There are 20 amino acids, and different combinations and sequences of these 20 amino acids account for every type of protein in your body.

Of the 20 amino acids, 9 of them (histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan, and valine) are categorized as “essential” because your body can’t make them on its own (1). 

You must get these essential amino acids from food. Most animal proteins have a good ratio of different amino acids, so you don’t need to worry about keeping track of your intake of each one.

However, if you’re vegetarian or strictly plant-based, it is possible to miss out on some essential amino acids. Most plant-based protein foods are incomplete protein sources, as they tend to be missing one or more essential amino acids (2).

The solution to these missing amino acids is simple – just incorporate complementary proteins into your diet. By combining different incomplete plant sources of protein, you can get all the amino acids you need. One great complementary protein combination is rice (low in lysine) and beans (low in methionine).

So, what about nonessential amino acids? This designation doesn’t mean they’re any less important, it just means that your body can synthesize them on its own, so you don’t need to focus on getting them from food.

What Does Protein Do?  

Protein is necessary for just about every process your body undergoes on a regular basis. Here are a few of its most important functions:

• Hormones: Believe it or not, these are actually proteins! Hormones such as insulin, glucagon, and HGH play a signaling role in the body, communicating between different organs and cells (3).
• Enzyme production: Protein helps to construct enzymes, which are substances that catalyze chemical reactions. Enzymes are required for many body processes including muscle contraction, digestion, and protein synthesis (4).
• Tissue structure: Protein provides the structure for cells, muscle, and other connective tissues (such as skin, nails, and hair). Important structural proteins include keratin, collagen, and elastin (3).
• Immune health: Immunoglobulins (antibodies) are a type of protein, and they manage your immune health by protecting your body against bacteria, viruses, and other toxins.
• Nutrient transport and storage: Many proteins are responsible for storing and/or moving other nutrients around the body. For example, lipoproteins transport cholesterol, while ferritin stores iron.
• Energy: Just like the other macromolecules, protein provides energy to allow you to go about your daily activities. One gram of protein provides the same amount of energy as 1 gram of carbs – 4 calories.

If you are working on losing body fat, incorporating protein into your diet can make it easier to reach your goals. 

I’ve found that many of my readers tend to downplay the importance of protein when planning meals. However, once they start intentionally incorporating this vital macronutrient, it’s much easier to feel full and satisfied after a nourishing meal.

Protein is more satiating (satisfying) in the long run than fat or carbs (5, 6). Over time, protein can simultaneously reduce your hunger hormone (ghrelin) levels and boost your levels of a satiety hormone (peptide YY) (7). Pretty awesome combo!

So, if you find yourself debating a few more bites of a homemade burger or finishing the sweet potato fries on your plate, opt for the burger. High-carb foods like fries (even those made with sweet potato) can be difficult to stop eating since they aren’t as satiating, while high-protein foods can help you feel fuller longer.

If you include protein sources throughout the day, the work required for protein metabolism will allow your body to burn more calories. 

Protein can also help to give your metabolism a bit of a short-term boost by increasing the thermic effect of food (TEF), which increases the amount of calories burned simply to digest and absorb food (8). TEF (also known as thermogenesis) is one of 3 factors involved in your metabolic rate (the other 2 are your basal metabolic rate and energy expenditure from activity) (9). 

Although TEF makes up the smallest portion of the 3 factors, you can make weight loss or maintenance less of a struggle by boosting your TEF from protein intake. 

Consistent protein intake can also encourage more fat loss via hormone production, which increases the integrity of your lean muscles, and even reduces cardiovascular risk.

Carbs and fats also have this effect, but not as much so as protein. In short, this means your body can burn more calories without any extra effort from you!

How your body uses protein

Protein is broken down into the amino acids required by our bodies to function properly. Several different parts of the body house these amino acids, most notably muscle tissue, the liver, bones, and skin. However, the body isn’t able to tap into these amino acids as easily as it can access glycogen or body fat for quick energy. 

Unlike the way our muscle tissue stores carbohydrates as glycogen for energy use later on, and the way our fat cells store fat for energy use later on, our body doesn’t have a “storage tank” for protein.

Your liver plays a vital role in handling the protein you consume. In a process known as deamination, amino acids are broken down to smaller components as hydrogen ions and ammonia are removed from their structure (10). 

The leftover portions of these amino acids are then distributed throughout your body by your liver to carry out many important functions. Many of these amino acids are ultimately destined for the Krebs cycle, where they can be converted into energy (11).

If your body is in positive protein balance (basically, if you’re consuming more than your body requires), your liver will simply process the protein that comes in from your diet and send the amino acids wherever they are needed (12).

On the other hand, if you’re not getting enough protein from your diet, your liver will break down muscle tissue (via oxidation) to get the amino acids it needs for energy production and other bodily processes (11).

This means that no matter how much time you spend exercising, your muscles will not cooperate unless you fuel them properly.

Protein is primarily used to build, repair and maintain body tissue (in a process called protein synthesis) and make enzymes and hormones. It serves only a tiny percentage of the body’s energy needs.

Since proteins and amino acids are not stored, there is a constant turnover of protein. Some protein is constantly being made while other protein is being broken down. Because protein is needed for so many body functions all day long, it’s important that we continue to replenish it throughout the day by including it in each of our meals.

The protein you eat is key in supporting muscle tissue repair and development in a process called muscle protein synthesis (MPS).

Protein is the main building block of muscle tissue. When you eat foods that contain protein, they’re digested into their amino acids which are transported to body tissues and built into tissue proteins. Protein synthesis is the process of building new proteins, which happens in all the body’s organs.

Muscle protein synthesis (MPS) is the process where your body builds specific muscle proteins from amino acids, and this contributes to muscle size.

Muscle protein synthesis can be increased by including protein with each main meal, and by including protein after you exercise – after the “tear down” has occurred. The amino acids from the protein you ingest will be shuttled to your muscles, replacing any lost during exercise.

The contractions your muscles make decrease muscle protein synthesis during a workout, but it rebounds post-exercise especially when protein or amino acids are added. Studies show that between 20-40 grams is the best amount to support this process, and that eating protein throughout the day in your meals is also a contributing factor.

The ability for dietary protein to impact muscle protein synthesis decreases with age. On my podcast, Dr. Gabrielle Lyon discussed that this response in older adults necessitates a need for increased amounts of dietary protein. This may be significant if you are over 40 and not being mindful of your protein intake. I recommend including between 20-30grams with each main meal, and supplementing with a protein shake post-workout on training days.

Your body can store the glucose you don’t need for immediate energy in 3 places, your liver glycogen, your muscle glycogen, and/or your fat cells.

“Nutrient partitioning” describes which of these 3 paths will be taken, and that has a lot to do with your current amount of body fat, muscle mass, and hormone levels – particularly insulin.

If you are insulin resistant, fat storage is prioritized. If you have good insulin sensitivity, muscle and liver storage is prioritized, and you get the bonus benefit of it aiding your amino acids entering the muscle tissue as well (muscle protein synthesis).

Insulin resistance: Insulin’s job is to help bring your blood sugar levels back to equilibrium by opening up the cells to receive glucose. People who are insulin resistant produce insulin, but their cells have stopped responding to it.
The pancreas, which makes insulin, turns up the volume, producing more and more insulin in response to the elevated blood sugar, but the cells still do not take it up and blood sugar continues to rise.
Prolonged elevated blood sugar can damage organs and nerves, and is associated with obesity, type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol and high blood pressure (11).

Insulin Sensitivity: Insulin sensitivity refers to how responsive your cells are to insulin – so how much insulin needs to be produced in order to shuttle the amount of glucose in the bloodstream.
You are insulin sensitive if a small amount of insulin is needed to deposit the glucose you’ve taken in.
Improving insulin sensitivity can help you reduce insulin resistance, and reduce the risk of many diseases, and ensures your body converts the energy from your food in the most efficient manner (including supporting your muscle) (12).

The more insulin sensitive you are, the more readily your nutrients will be partitioned to the muscle tissue to be stored as glycogen (rather than fat storage). Insulin is also thought to have some influence on muscle protein synthesis. It’s theorized that it enhances the uptake of amino acids into the cell, though I found inconsistent conclusions in my research. Bottom line: improving insulin sensitivity is a desirable goal for better health overall.

Improve your insulin sensitivity by eating whole foods, and getting regular exercise.

But won’t eating protein make me bulk up?

Many women slack on protein intake because of an outdated misconception that it will “bulk” them up.

In reality, achieving a muscular “bulky” bodybuilder look actually takes precise planning, targeted muscle group training, and often steroid or hormone supplementation. 

While both men and women can build muscle effectively, men have an easier time due to their higher levels of testosterone.

If you’re not aiming for a bodybuilder physique, you can rest assured that it won’t happen by accident if you increase your protein intake! 

Rather, by regularly doing resistance training exercises and maintaining a balanced eating pattern, you’ll add muscle to your body, which will allow for a lean, toned look.

Are You Eating Enough Protein?

If you have an active lifestyle and eat a balanced diet, you might be concerned that you’re not eating enough protein. 

So, how can you tell if you’re cutting yourself short on protein?

Unless your diet is heavily restricted due to allergies or other reasons, most people in developed countries consume adequate protein, and true protein deficiency is very rare.

While it’s unlikely that you’re truly protein-deficient, it is possible that you could be cutting yourself a bit short on protein if you have an active lifestyle.

Here are a few signs that may indicate that your protein intake is insufficient in comparison to your needs:

1: You often experience strong CRAVINGS for things like sweets, caffeine, chocolate, candy, chips, pastries, etc.

Strong cravings often indicate unstable blood sugar – your body needs energy and it’s looking for a quick fix. Protein helps your blood sugar and hormones to stabilize, which can help to reduce those relentless cravings.

2: You have DIFFICULTY SLEEPING through the night.

The same blood sugar swings that cause cravings can also mess with hormone balance, which in turn messes with your sleep. A lack of protein can cause cortisol (a stress hormone) to rise, while your serotonin (the “happy” hormone) diminishes, causing insomnia or fitful rest.

When you get a solid, restful night of sleep, your body is better equipped to efficiently burn its body’s best long-lasting fuel: stored fat. 

However, if you’re eating excessive amounts of carbs (especially sugar) during the day, your body becomes unaccustomed to using your stored fat for energy, and it will instead disrupt your sleep cycle thinking it’s time to eat, looking for the next hit of quick energy.

3: You have muscle and/or joint pain:

The body stores much of its protein reserves in the synovial fluid around joints, saving it up to rebuild your muscles and joints after strenuous exercise. 

When your protein intake is inadequate, the reserve is tapped for amino acids, and this can result in stiff joints and tight muscles.

Of course, if you’re an active person who exercises regularly, you are likely accustomed to the occasional bouts of soreness and tightness. However, if you’ve had trouble recovering from workouts lately and there doesn’t seem to be an obvious reason behind it, insufficient protein intake could be to blame.

4: You ride a roller coaster of EMOTIONS, FATIGUE, and STRESS.

While carbs tend to spike your blood sugar levels, protein helps to stabilize it. Without enough protein, your blood sugar levels can fluctuate all over the place, which is quite taxing on your system. 

This blood sugar roller coaster can cause erratic mood swings, tiredness, and just generally make you feel lousy.

5: You are CONSTANTLY HUNGRY with an uncontrollable appetite. 

Protein metabolism expends a lot of energy, so the act of simply breaking down protein does burn calories, and if you’re not replacing those calories with some quality protein sources, it can leave you super hungry! 

While your body is working hard to break down and assimilate protein, it is also improving metabolic function, providing a feeling of fullness, and stabilizing your energy and blood sugar levels.

How Much Protein do you Need?

Even if you’re not experiencing any symptoms associated with inadequate protein intake, it’s always a good thing to know if you’re meeting your targets. 

So, what should your target protein intake be?

Protein needs are not a “one size fits all” kind of thing.

You’ll find a wide variety of recommendations and calculators for protein intake on various websites and apps, but the “right” amount of protein for your needs depends on many factors. 

Your height, weight, activity level, age, muscle mass, physique goals, and current state of health all affect the amount of protein your body needs to keep running smoothly. 

The Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for protein for healthy adults is 0.8 grams per kg body weight – which works out to about 0.36 grams per pound (13). 

If you’re thinking this sounds a bit low – you may be right! By definition, an RDA is simply a level of nutrient intake that is sufficient for most people, so you can think of it as a bare minimum threshold to keep you functioning (14). 

If you’re an active woman, I suggest really making an effort to focus on your dietary protein intake to allow for optimal exercise recovery and muscle repair.

How to Calculate Your Protein Needs:

To give yourself a personalized range to work with, divide your weight in pounds by 2.2 (this will yield your weight in kg), and then multiply this number by the grams of protein per kg as indicated below based on your activity level. 

Your ideal daily protein intake should fall somewhere in this range. You can round to the nearest whole number to make your range easier to remember – it doesn’t need to be exact! 

• If you’re generally healthy and doing regular resistance training (like any of my workouts, both bodyweight and with weights), your best bet is to aim for at least 1.2 to 1.4 grams of protein per kg (about 0.55 to 0.65 grams per pound) of body weight (15). 
• If you’re not active at all, it’s OK to go lower than this range (but try to aim for at least 0.8 to 1 gram per kg).
• If you’re extremely active, you may find that the calculated range is not enough for your needs, and it may take some experimenting to determine what works best for you. Typically, somewhere between 1.2 to 1.7 grams per kg (0.55 to 0.77 grams per lb) works well for very active people. However, you can go higher than this amount if you like (up to about 2 to 2.5 grams per kg), especially if you do a lot of strength training and building muscle mass is your goal (16).

These calculated protein levels may seem like a lot, but if you have your targets set a bit higher than what your body truly needs, you’re more likely to get sufficient amounts. When it comes to protein, it’s better to consume more (within reason, of course!) than less than your body requires. 

No matter what your goals are, including enough protein (along with other nutrients) is an important part of supporting your body, sculpting your physique, and attaining optimal health.

Keep in mind that you can overeat protein, just like any other nutrient, but if you do, your body has a good internal regulation system to deal with the extra protein. After the process of deamination in your liver, if you don’t have a use for amino acids, their remnants may ultimately be converted into fats or carbohydrates, depending on what your body needs at the moment.

Of course, just like carbs and fats, excess protein can ultimately be stored as body fat – so don’t overdo it on the protein if you don’t actually need it.

Chronically overeating massive amounts of protein can cause health problems, just like chronically overeating fat, carbs or any nutrient can. Additionally, if you have any pre-existing health conditions (especially kidney or liver disorders), you may need to limit your protein intake as instructed by a medical professional.

This is why it’s a good idea to calculate your personal protein intake based on your specific energy output, goals, and health concerns, and adjust accordingly from there.

How to incorporate protein throughout the day

Breakfast: Depending on your preferences, your version of a delicious protein-rich breakfast can vary. If you enjoy savory breakfasts, eggs are probably already in the rotation. Prefer something sweet? Whip up some protein pancakes or grab a cup of Greek yogurt.

Lunch and Dinner: Most people with a balanced diet shouldn’t need to make too many changes here. Chances are that you probably already consume a protein source with your main meals. If you don’t, simply add them in!

Post-Workout: After a workout, it’s important to jumpstart the recovery process by getting a good amount of protein (and carbs) in. This post-workout boost can help to rebuild structural proteins in your tendons and muscles while providing you with energy.

After a workout, your muscles’ ability to take in nutrients is increased significantly (15). Providing an ample supply of amino acids following exercise may help to maximize protein synthesis, which can help your body recover faster from exercise and increase its muscle-building potential. 

Protein also helps to break down carbs and mediate your blood sugar response, so including both protein and carbs in your post-workout snack or meal is a win-win.

Additionally, your body tends to burn more calories when it breaks down protein (boosting your metabolic rate) all the while giving shape, structure, and strength to your physique. You truly can’t go wrong with a good source of protein after a workout.

What are Good Sources of Protein?

Getting your protein from a variety of different foods is a good way to ensure you’re getting adequate minerals, vitamins, phytonutrients, and everything you need to maintain lean muscle and reduce body fat.

As with any food, choose protein sources that are as unprocessed as possible, and think about the source of the food – such as grass-fed meats, wild-caught fish, and natural seeds, nuts, and legumes.

If you’re looking to increase your protein intake, here are some great high-protein foods to add into your diet.

Animal Sources (grass-fed, free range, and wild caught whenever possible):

• Meat: beef, bison, pork, wild game
• Poultry: chicken, turkey
• Seafood: fish (cod, haddock, tuna, flounder, perch, halibut) and shellfish (shrimp, crab, lobster, scallops, oysters)
• Dairy: Greek yogurt, milk, cheeses, fermented dairy products like kefir

Plant Sources:

• Seeds: chia, sunflower, pumpkin, flax, sesame
• Nuts: almonds, pistachios, walnuts, cashews, brazil nuts, peanuts
• Legumes: Lupin, Lentils, Green Peas, Soybeans (tempeh/tofu), Red beans, Black beans, Yellow beans, Fava beans, Chickpeas
• Whole grains: quinoa, buckwheat, amaranth, wheat, rice, corn, oats (ensure your grains are soaked, sprouted, or fermented to consume, and that you’re looking for non-GMO plants)
• Some Vegetables:  i.e. avocado, broccoli, spinach, kale, sweet potatoes (these all contain some protein, but are not adequate protein sources on their own.)

Protein Supplements

Getting your nutrients from whole foods is always the optimal choice, BUT it’s also useful to have some additional, convenient options to help keep your intake in the right range when you’re short on time. 

I have a couple of plant-based complete protein powders available in my own supplement line:

Berry Green Protein Powder

I Vanilla Protein Powder

Both of these protein powders contain all of the essential amino acids in an organic, plant-based form. You can also get complete protein from dairy-based protein powder.

I  do rotate between a few of my favorite high-quality protein powders and add them to all kinds of things (such as smoothies, oatmeal, and baking). CLICK HERE to read the full list of my favorite protein powders!

Is collagen a protein powder?

Collagen in its supplemental form is made up of amino acids, and contains 3 in particular in abundance. It’s not really a complete protein however, so I refer to it as “collagen peptides” which helps clarify that while it contains amino acids, it’s not a “protein replacement.”

Collagen is the most abundant protein in the human body, found everywhere from muscle to skin to blood vessels (17). Your body can synthesize its own collagen, but as you age, this process slows down.

So, should you take a collagen supplement? In general, you probably don’t need to if your diet is balanced and contains all of the key nutrients, and you’re eating bone broth regularly.

However if you’re an active person and want to support your bone, skin and joint health it can be beneficial, as collagen can help jumpstart the rebuilding process for muscle, tendons, ligaments, and other tissues that take a bit of wear and tear during exercise.

Here’s my brand of collagen:

Full Body Collagen

The Body Fuel System #BFS will….

• Support your metabolism in its OPTIMAL state
• Speed up FAT LOSS – naturally
• ELIMINATE the need to endlessly count and track calories, points or numbers
• Help you LOOK and FEEL YOUR PERSONAL BEST… and stay that way – all while eating foods that taste great!

The Body Fuel System uses my simple, proven Eating Types to make it easy to stay on track. It also gives you healthy, fat-burning recipes and foods you can eat to look and feel your BEST every day!

Recipes like….

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Learn more right here, and find out why people love this program so much!

The post Protein 101: How Much You Need, How it Benefits You, and How to Get it In appeared first on The Betty Rocker.

When you’re busy, on the go, traveling, in a restaurant or in some (inconvenient) convenience store it’s important to know the basics so you can make the BEST CHOICE for the situation you’re in and fuel your body.

Remember ALL OR SOMETHING, not “all or nothing.” You don’t have to give up or feel derailed from your goals just because you have a less than ideal meal.

I don’t always have time to prep food every week (though I do every chance I get) and I travel frequently – and I’m often very busy and on the go – so I have a simple checklist that I keep in mind that helps me stay on track in a variety of situations.

This is…

Betty Rocker’s 5-Step Healthy Eating Checklist:

1: IDENTIFY THE NUTRIENTS

Whatever you’re eating, look for what NUTRIENTS (protein, carbs, fats, greens) are in the meal.

If you can start to identify where these are coming from in your meals, you can start to choose better and better whole food versions of them – and start to see how they work together to really boost your metabolism, shed excess body fat and provide you with lasting energy and vitality.

Look for:

PROTEIN: Include Protein with all of your meals – I can’t say enough about the importance of this! Protein is more satiating (satisfying) in the long run than fat or carbs. Over time, protein can simultaneously reduce your hunger hormone (ghrelin) levels and boost your levels of a satiety hormone (peptide YY).

It will help you change your body composition from carrying extra fat to carrying lean muscle, which burns more calories at rest and will start to carve out those lean lines so many people want to see in their bodies.

Eating protein is not going to “bulk you up.” It’s an important nutrient that’s responsible for multiple body functions.

If you’re constantly craving sugar or sweets, it is important to take a look at the nutrients in your daily dietary intake to see if you’re getting enough protein, fat and complex, wholesome carbohydrates.

Make the best choice for the situation you’re in.

Order as “clean” of a protein source for your eating style as you can at a restaurant, and leave off excess sauces when possible – they’re often loaded with sugar and sodium that aren’t doing your body any favors.

For more on how much protein you need, when, read this article, and for healthy food options when you’re traveling, try this article!

CARBS: Properly prepare and include the RIGHT wholesome slow-digesting carbohydrates – and when you can’t prepare your own, look for the best source you can find in the situation you’re in.

Yes, it’s ideal to have fibrous vegetables and whole grains that have been soaked, sprouted or fermented (think Ezekial sprouted grain breads and cereals, overnight oatmeal) but in some situations, you just need to make sure you’re getting something that will be slow-digesting and provide you with energy.

Stick to sweet potatoes, regular baked potatoes, rice, beans – and try to avoid the added sugars that often come laden in the toppings or sauces. Look for the best carb choice you can – a packet of instant, plain oatmeal is a better choice than the muffin in the break room.

Enjoy some fruit if that’s closer to a whole food option without the additives, and try not to rely just on fruit throughout the day. Fruit is fructose, a sugar that is processed by the liver, which can only process/store a certain amount daily. Once it’s full, it starts to store excess in your fat cells.

FATS: Eat healthy fats to stay lean. Fat is the preferred fuel of muscle tissue at rest (make sure you get plenty of sleep to maximize this benefit), AND it protects your muscle’s valuable protein stores while being burned for energy along with glucose and glycogen during exercise.

Look for quality fats in simple foods like nuts, nut butters, avocados, seeds, and heart healthy oils.

When I’m out to eat, if I’m having a salad I’ll skip their pre-made dressing but order a side of olive oil and fresh lemon and make my own so I don’t miss the good fat, but skip the sugar and other less than ideal ingredients in the pre-made dressing.

If I’m looking for nut butter, I look for the one that doesn’t have sugar added.

I’ll have real, whole butter when that’s the best option. Look for the nutrients available around you in every situation and you’ll be so far ahead of the game.

GREENS: Look for opportunities to include fresh veggies in your meals whenever possible – 2 or 3 times a day.

Some of my greens shortcuts are to include greens in a protein shake, have raw veggies as snacks (usually with peanut butter or Greek yogurt), make a big mixed greens salad for the week in advance that I have with a protein and carb (I keep the salad un-dressed to keep it from getting soggy).

I also have organic Berry Green Protein as a backup when I’m out of greens, am traveling or just want the convenience of boosting any smoothie with 18 grams of protein, and a variety of greens and fruits.

2: AVOID FOODS WITH ADDITIVES, ADDED SUGAR, and UNNECESSARY PROCESSING

…unless you’re having them ON PURPOSE as a treat (balance is important – but don’t nickel and dime your sugar intake away on sugar-laden processed foods).

When I say “unnecessary processing,”here are a couple examples.

I would avoid “fat-free” yogurt and opt for a full-fat yogurt. It’s been processed less, and most likely doesn’t need added sugar and sodium to make it taste good because the natural fat (which works perfectly with the healthy protein in the yogurt to make it more bioavailable to your system) makes the yogurt taste better.

I would avoid products like “PB2” which is just peanut butter with the natural fat sucked out and sugar added in. Less fat doesn’t mean “better for you,” it’s just tricking you into thinking that’s better for you. When you eat PB2, you’re not as satisfied as when you eat real peanut butter, and the extra sugar can end up getting stored as fat since it’s easier to overeat it when all your foods contain added sugar.

I want you to read your food labels. When you don’t recognize an ingredient, do what I do – Google it.

See if it’s something natural or if it’s something that’s been manufactured. This is what I consider my due diligence.

Marketing is really sneaky and hard to navigate. Endless shortcut foods exist that promise you a quick fix to a healthy body – but so many of them are actually worse for you than a more simple whole food alternative.

For example, I would choose a handful of whole almonds over a bag of “100 calorie crisps” because even though the crisps are trying to trick you into thinking you’re going to “get skinny” by eating “less calories” you’re going to be eating something loaded with sodium that won’t actually satisfy your hunger as much because it doesn’t have much substance.

Nutrients trump calories every time: learn which ones your body needs and seek them out as your primary focus. 

3: BE CONSISTENT WITH YOUR EATING HABITS

This one is short and sweet. If you eat your whole foods daily, or primarily focus on eating whole foods, you can absolutely enjoy a treat – it’s the binges you need to watch out for, which are often caused by a feeling of deprivation.

I follow a concept called “NSA” or “no strings attached” eating – not cheating – because I believe that we should be able to enjoy special occasions, a slice of cake, cocktails or whatever it is – ON PURPOSE, without the guilt.

Mindful eating makes us more aware of what’s at the end of our fork, and we’re more conscious of our daily choices, be they the ones that nourish us or the ones that simply enhance a moment with friends or a special occasion.

It’s all about balance.

4: HYDRATE

Drink plenty of water, and avoid sugary beverages.

My favorite way to stay hydrated all day long is to use the Water Minder App. You may have heard me mention this before – that’s because I’m a HUGE FAN of getting a reminder on my phone periodically throughout the day about something that helps me!

I often use it to do a quick stretch or break from looking at the computer – just having that little healthy reminder is a great way to help you stay hydrated. Take your water bottle with you everywhere you go, and sip on it regularly.

5: PLAN WHEN YOU CAN

Set yourself up for eating success by pre-planning a couple entrees for the week ahead of time that could be made to last for a few meals and have complimentary ingredients.

Maybe a healthy soup or chili? Or simple baked chicken you can cook that will work in a salad, a dinner entree, and that soup? Sometimes simple is best when you’re busy and short on time.

Doing just a little time-saving food prep can be a great way to make sure you have at least a few staples on hand and lunches to pack, food to grab on the go, or something easy to make when you get home from a long day. You can always use my meal plans for variety, pre-done shopping lists, healthy whole food options and daily menus.

The same rules apply when you’re grocery shopping as they do eating out – choose the best things you can for the place you live and what your budget allows.

If you’re focusing on the nutrients, you can’t get this wrong – it’s ok if you don’t get organic and if you need to rely on some pre-made foods. Just do the best you can for the situation you’re in and look for the least processed option available of the nutrients you need.

Things like a mixed greens salad for the week, a couple protein and carb options like baked chicken and turkey burgers for example plus some overnight oatmeal and sweet potatoes would set you up with some basics that you could build around.

Keeping these 5 strategies in mind helps me stay on track when I’m short on time, in situations where I can’t cook or shop for everything I want to cook, and when I’m on the go.

Remember, it’s not about “all or nothing” – take the “all or something approach, and just look for the best option for the situation you’re in.

In an ideal situation, you’d shop at the Farmer’s Market, you’d have fresh, organic produce and wild-caught fish, you’d look for grass-fed meat, free range eggs and you’d easily find quality pre-sprouted, soaked or fermented quinoa, bread, or other grain products.

But we don’t always get that option, so what’s the next best?

My rule of thumb is that when you can’t find the highest quality, look for the nutrients in the food that your body needs, and get the cleanest source of food that contains them.

There’s no question that you need protein, slow digesting carbohydrates, healthy fat and greens. If you can’t get the most high-end source of these nutrients, don’t sweat it.

Focus on the nutrients themselves and get the best you can for your money where you are. This is exactly what I focus on when I’m traveling, whether I’m in a rural town, a restaurant or an event with limited options.

As always, if this was helpful, share it with a friend who could benefit from it as well!

For time-saving healthy eating, check out the Body Fuel System!

The Body Fuel System uses my simple, proven Eating Types to make it easy to stay on track. It also gives you healthy, fat-burning recipes and foods you can eat to look and feel your BEST every day!

Recipes like….

This is my signature eating system and it contains 6 weeks of done-for-you meal planning and recipe guides! You will not only learn the strategies that have given me long-term success, but also enjoy the time-saving benefits of having it all planned out for you!

Learn more right here, and find out why people love this program so much!

The post 5-Step Healthy Eating Checklist appeared first on The Betty Rocker.

How can I stay healthy while eating out?

I just got back from 5 days of travel myself which meant a LOT of eating out so I wanted to share some tips with you that I used to feel my best.

1: Pack Snacks and Protein Powder

Always bring snacks with you while traveling. It’s easier to make good choices when you’re in a restaurant if you’ve had a healthy snack beforehand and don’t go into it really hungry. That way you won’t be tempted to reach for the bread or chip basket.

I bring along my own nut/seed blends in small ziplock bags, my favorite simple protein bars, squeezable snack packs – similar to baby food packets they usually have just real food in a portable pouch that will give you a small boost of nutrition – and protein powder and a shaker bottle.

• Epic bars
• Sprouts squeezable packs
• Protein Powder I use
• Blender Bottle

2: Surf the menu

When I’m at a restaurant I like to do something I call “Menu Surfing,” where I’ll browse through the menu looking at what ingredients they have while thinking about what nutrients my body needs, and what the best option is wherever I am.

A: Protein

I choose my protein first, then look for different sides or salads that sound good and build on that. I’ll ask to leave off any ingredients that don’t agree with me – and will add an easy extra like a quarter of a lemon to squeeze over my salad instead of a heavy dressing.

B: Carbs

Healthy carb options can be tough – but not impossible. Your main goal is to find something that is as close to a whole food as possible for your complex carb. It can be as simple as avoiding the bread basket or side of chips or fries, and opting for the rice or potatoes instead.

If you are eating gluten free, you can sometimes find a gluten free bun or bread, but that’s not always the best choice as many GF products aren’t made with the best ingredients and will have added sugars and preservatives that you have no control over.

A lettuce wrap for a burger or sandwich can sometimes be a great option too.

C: Fat

Speaking of fat, consider adding a healthy, nutrient-dense fat like avocado in place of cheese (if dairy bothers you) so you still get that yummy creaminess without the extra dairy.

Also look for dishes that already combine healthy fat, healthy protein and greens. A great option if you’re going out to breakfast is to order poached eggs over a green salad and a side of oatmeal.

D: Beverages

When it comes to beverages, try to avoid soda – order unsweetened iced tea instead or sparkling water if you like bubbles. I like to squeeze some lemon or lime into my water, or get a side of fresh berries and infuse my water myself for variety. Strawberries taste awesome in sparkling water!

I’d also caution you from falling into the trap of always ordering a cocktail or a glass of wine. If it’s a special occasion or your NSA day by all means!

If your goal is weight-loss, I would caution you to be extremely moderate in your choice to consume alcohol, because of the effects it has on your fat-regulating hormones and your willpower to consume sweet and salty foods.

Alcohol consumption will: increase your appetite, lower your fat metabolism and testosterone levels for up to 24 hours, and block the production of an energy-building molecule called Acetyl-Co-A. Energy depletion affects metabolism, and hence, fat loss. Alcohol also causes cortisol levels to rise – increasing the breakdown of testosterone. Testosterone is responsible for muscle growth, among other things. The more muscle you have, the better your body’s ability to burn fat – so decrease in testosterone=decrease in fat burning

The post How to Eat Healthy Traveling and Order at Restaurants appeared first on The Betty Rocker.

Delicious dishes you can grab and eat quickly for those times when you’re busy, and ingredients to put together and cook when you have a little more time.

In fact, I think that cooking and doing food preparation is one of the highest acts of self love you can participate in.

And if you’re cooking for your family that’s the ultimate act of love too.

Bravo to you for taking the time to nourish your body, learn about the food that supports optimal health and caring enough to figure out how to make this a part of your (I’m sure) busy life.

Today, I want to pull back the curtain and show you exactly what I do to set myself up for a week of successful eating.

Keep in mind, I’m doing this for one person, and my goals are to a) enjoy my food b) be healthy, c) support my workout program and d) maintain and continuously improve my physique.

*please note: reproduction of this, or any of the copyrighted work or images on this website without written permission from the author and owner of the site is a violation of copyright law and will be pursued to the full extent of the law. This content has been created by the site creator and is for educational use on thebettyrocker.com. Do not plagiarize or reproduce this, or any content from this site. Sharing links and referencing these articles with permission is the proper approach to take. Use the contact form if you have any questions.

My approach to food prep is one that finds a happy balance between variety, delicious flavors, and metabolism-boosting meal combinations.

I like having some guidelines to follow AND some room to deviate from my plan – because one of my daily affirmations is “I always think BOTH.”

Who says you can’t have it all?

Packing up chicken, rice and broccoli for days in small containers just doesn’t appeal to me – I might last for 2 days eating like that, but after that my body just craves variety! Excitement! I want to taste something new.

Now granted, from a practical and financial standpoint I have to be smart about how I choose the foods I want to cook for the week, because too much variety means I’ll have to get a ton of different ingredients.

So I strategize by choosing a few different recipes that have complimentary ingredients, using some fresh and some frozen to save money (and to make sure things don’t go bad), and buying things I plan to use over and over in bulk.

1. Choose your recipes.

The way I choose my recipes is pretty simple. I want all of my daily meals to include a balanced amount of protein, vegetables, healthy fats, and whole food carbohydrates, rich in fiber.

I include protein with every meal. I like making sides out of my carbs, but that’s not a rule, I could make a beef stew with potatoes and that would be awesome.

I also think about my entire day. Where will the healthy fat come from? If I’ll be having oatmeal for breakfast some days, do I have a plan for what protein will go with my breakfast too? I might stock up on protein powder to blend into my oatmeal bowl.

I want to make sure I’ve got avocados on hand to put on my soup, and plenty of whole eggs – plus I like to get a carton of egg whites to stretch out my eggs and have at least 20-25g of protein when I eat eggs for breakfast.

This week, I had just come back from traveling and was in the mood for comfort foods. I wanted chicken soup, pizza, muffins, oatmeal – that kind of stuff. So I put together a list of recipes that sounded good.

Recipes this week (links to recipes you can find on the blog):

Sundried Tomato Pizza  (this is an entree that packs well for lunch, or heat up for dinner)
Pumpkin Protein Muffins (a perfect grab and go snack bursting with health-boosting ingredients)
Overnight Oatmeal (I alternate between eggs and oatmeal in the morning)
Easy Strawberry Chia Smoothie (I just have one smoothie recipe this week, though I’ll often have 2)
Mixed Greens Salad – your choice of ingredients – I like romaine, baby spinach, mixed baby greens, etc. I like to have a 4-6 serving salad in the fridge. I don’t cut any tomatoes into it unless they’re small non-juicy cherry tomatoes, and I usually reserve any liquid like fresh lemon and olive oil for when I’m eating it. This is great to have on hand to eat cold or even throw in the sautee pan to have with your eggs hot.

“Creamy” Chicken Vegetable Soup
(delicious entree that keeps well and makes a big batch that I can season a variety of ways each day)

1 qt chicken broth
2 cups peeled and chopped zucchini (I used 2 small-medium sized zucchini)
2 cups cauliflower, broken into florets (I used one head total)
1 cup chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
1 cup peeled and diced carrots
1-1.5 lb shredded, pre-baked chicken
1/4 cup fresh parsley
2-3 tsp celery seed
2-3 tsp dried rosemary
salt and pepper to taste

1. In a medium pot, combine broth, zucchini, cauliflower, onion and garlic.
2. Simmer for 20 minutes, or until the veggies are soft.
3. Add soup to the blender (I love my Blendtec!), and blend until completely smooth – don’t overfill your blender like I did my first time and have hot soup explode all over your kitchen! lol. I did this the WRONG way so I could help you do it the right way! Do it in 2 batches if needed.
4. Return your blended soup to the pot, along with shredded chicken and carrots. Simmer for 10 min or until the carrots are done to your liking.
5. Add seasonings, stir in and allow to sit briefly. Remove from heat.

Sun-dried Tomato Quinoa
(perfect side dish with my soup or with fish)

1 cup sprouted quinoa
2 cups water
8-10 sundried tomatoes
1 cup baby spinach
1 1/2 tsp sea salt

1. Add quinoa and water to a pot and stir. Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally until the water has absorbed.
2. Cut sundried tomatoes in slivers. I use the ones packed in oil, and drizzle a couple tablespoons of the seasoned oil into my quinoa too.
3. Stir in sea salt, and then mix in spinach.

2. Make a grocery list based on the recipes, and don’t forget the other things you’ll need to pick up!

So this part is pretty easy. Just pick the recipes you’re going to make, decide if you’re going to double them or make the amount it calls for and start writing your grocery list based on the foods you’ll need.

Additionally, you’ll want to think about the meals and foods you won’t prep in advance, and can have on the fly. For example, toppings for your oatmeal and add-ins to your smoothies. Maybe you want some canned tuna or beans on hand that you can mash together with avocado for a quick and delicious snack or meal.

I always make sure I have some frozen fish/meat and frozen vegetables in the freezer too, because I tend to eat out with friends on the weekend, and don’t stick to a schedule.

Having things on hand that won’t go bad is super important. Being mindful of my nutrient intake throughout the day is why I always have an organic, plant-based protein powder on hand – to make sure I’ve got a good quick shake I can pound on the go, usually with a piece of fruit and some almond milk.

Other things I’ll be eating that I’ll want to pick up or make sure I have on hand:

• Eggs (I always spend the extra for the pasture-raised organic, the nutrients are much more bioavailable)
• Frozen fish (wild caught whenever possible), or buy fresh and freeze – I say this because fish doesn’t keep as long so you need to cook it fresh or freeze it to cook fresh.
• Greens for smoothies and salad
• Fresh and frozen fruit (depending on the price, season, etc – for example, fresh pineapple was cheap, strawberries were not, so I got frozen strawberries and fresh pineapple).
• Frozen veggies – I like having some frozen veggies on hand for when my fresh supplies dwindle. Fresh is, of course, ideal, but not always possible.
• Pantry items (like sundried tomatoes, cinnamon, hemp seeds, chia seeds, etc)
• Protein powder
• Almond milk (I get original, unsweetened)
• Grass fed butter (the nutrients from the vegetation the cow eats are what makes grass fed butter superior to butter from grain fed cattle – read more)
• Ezekiel sprouted grain English Muffins (optional, these are a wonderful complex carb to include with zero additives or sugar, made from sprouted grains)
• Green juice (I’ll get a couple of these because they have pressed fresh at my store, and I don’t have a juicer. I’ll do a mix of green smoothies and green juice).

3. Set aside some time to enjoy your grocery shopping trip.

This is really important. Enjoy shopping – you’re an urban hunter-gatherer  I like to get my groceries on a day that I have time to putter around the grocery store… This is actually the story behind why I started teaching cooking classes at Whole Foods…

I would walk around the store doing my shopping, talking to the store employees about the food. Most of the people who work there really like the company they work for, and know a lot about the businesses they buy from and will take the time to talk to you about it…this is even more fun at a Farmer’s market!

I’m endlessly curious.

I made friends with a lovely woman named Barb, who worked in specialty foods. She would often ask me how I could  eat “so much food” – lol, my grocery cart full of greens and whole foods looked odd to her and she wondered “where I put it.”

Barb was in the mindset of eating less to weigh less, a common misconception in the dieting world that actually causes us to hold onto weight much longer, as the body thinks it’s constantly in starvation mode. She was about 50-60 lbs over her ideal weight at the time, and I would just chat with her about metabolism and food as fuel.

I hadn’t written the Body Fuel System yet, but I was just starting this blog. Barb got curious from our conversations and started reading it. It was a little less than a year later when the Healthy Eating Specialist at Whole Foods called me up and told me Barb had lost 50 pounds, and was being featured as their healthy team member of the month – and when they interviewed her and asked what had inspired and guided her journey, she said, “Betty Rocker!”

So I started teaching cooking classes – and testing out my recipes…and here we are today!

One of my friends shot a video of my very first class, please enjoy this little piece of Betty Rocker history. Back then I had no idea how much I was capable of, I just couldn’t stop following this dream. I had to share my love of food and to help people love their bodies.

4. Food prep – aka cook!

When you get home, having the recipes is your blueprint to doing this successfully. Sometimes it takes a couple of hours to put everything together if you’re making most of your food in one session.

I call this method “batch prep” because you’re batching your time. While doing food prep this way can seem time consuming, I find it extremely efficient and it saves me a ton of time during the week (and money – because you’re not nickel and diming yourself on lunches out, snacks, take-out food, etc).

Not to mention it absolutely ensures I’m going to be making the best choices for my body all week and not relying on pre-made foods that have too much sugar, have additives or ingredients that might not be optimal for my health, can upset my hormone equilibrium and compromise my immune system.

That’s the real cost of eating foods you don’t make…so when good food seems expensive, I think about how much I’m saving on health care and how fit and healthy I’m going to be in my 60’s, 70’s and 80’s as a result of my choices now.

It is not always seamless, and I don’t do it every single week, but I do my best to do food prep 2-3 times a month – and like I said, I always consider this a labor of love. For myself, my body – and if you have a family and you’re the one doing the food preparation, this is the ultimate act of love. Nourishing your family is a special and important job in any family – remember that. You’re setting a great example for your kids.

Other alternatives to batch prep include “hybrid prep” which I lay out in every week of the Body Fuel System (every week gives you 3 options: batch, hybrid and minimal). That’s when you have the plan, the grocery list and the recipes – but you don’t make them ALL in one main session – just a few of the staples. Then you strategically cook other things as you go through out the week. That’s a great fallback method and works really well for a lot of people too!

This week’s prep:

I like to start out by turning on some good music. I’ll wash all of my greens and vegetables (use 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar to a basin of water in your sink and a small vegetable brush). I’ll prep the recipes I listed above for you together.

So here’s what I did – a rough estimate, you may decide to prep less or more of the recipes on the same day:

1. Get oatmeal, water and acidic medium of my choice into a large bowl, and set on counter for 7-24 hours (this article explains the whole Overnight Oatmeal process if you’re not yet familiar).
2. Wash greens and veggies. Bag up any I’m going to use for smoothies, and toss a quick salad together.
3. Prep veggies for soup.
4. Get chicken in the oven.
5. Pack up oatmeal.
6. Get quinoa cooking on the stovetop.
7. Start cooking the soup on the stovetop.
8. Begin prepping your pizza crust, and pop it in the oven when the chicken comes out.
9. Soup goes in the blender and then back in the pot to finish cooking with additional ingredients.
10. Finish up quinoa and pack it up.
11. Make sundried tomato spread for pizza, top your finished crust and pop it back in the oven while you….
12. Make pumpkin protein muffins.
13. You’re done! Avoid ending with a disaster zone in your kitchen by cleaning as you go – one of my personal success strategies with batch prep sessions.

5. Sample Days of Eating – 3 days of what I ate this week

Many people get really stuck at this point and bogged down in some of the most common questions. How much am I supposed to eat? What about my pre-and post-workout? I can’t eat too close to bedtime, so can I eat after an evening workout? How many calories am I supposed to eat?

Here’s the secret to my success. There is no one-size fits all diet for everyone. Even if you have a calorie count in mind, it’s not going to be right or accurate for you every day, every meal.

A calorie doesn’t tell you the nutrient density in a food – it only tells you how many units of energy are in it. If a popsicle had the same calories as a pumpkin protein muffin, would that be a good thing to substitute? You wouldn’t give your body nearly as many nutrients, and you’d have to filter and process all the sugar – and lose the fiber, potassium and other awesome nutrients.

Your body knows that it’s full because of volume (how much you ate) or nutrient density (the nutrients in the food you ate).

You know how you just can’t stop eating certain foods until your stomach literally starts to hurt? This is why. You aren’t getting the nutrients you need, so your body just doesn’t feel “full” or satisfied until your gut is literally stretching.

Many people shy away from whole foods that contain fat and carbs because they’re fearful of gaining weight – opting instead for some processed version of them.

But those processed and pre made foods create all kinds of long-term problems in our bodies – insulin resistance, sugar spikes, fat storage, toxicity and the myriad of precursors to major disease and health problems. Our lean ancestors didn’t have “reduced fat butter” or “low fat yogurt” or “carb free bread.”

There is definite merit in learning the macronutrient counts of different foods, (how many grams of protein, carbohydrates and fat) but it’s easy to miss the enjoyment of eating and cooking when you’re constantly tracking your calories.

I’ll be the first to agree that having this experience is an important part of the learning process. Understanding the composition of different foods is extremely helpful. But don’t let it become a crutch and catch yourself limiting your food intake, obsessing over what you eat and skimping on whole foods because they have “too many calories.”

You don’t need specific “pre and post workout meals.” The nutrients you need are in the meals you made for the week ideally, and if you focus on eating filling and satisfying nutrient dense meals at least 3 times daily, you will get what you need to support your activities. If you’re training hard, you may need to up your portions, especially of protein and carbs. You could benefit from adding that green smoothie with an extra serving of protein powder in at some point in the day.

You’ve got to adopt a lifestyle and habits that you can stick to for the long term.

Because consistency is the key to success – and to be consistent, you need habits you can sustain. Habits that support your body and its metabolic processes, that keep you on an even keel and constantly moving forward.

Eat real foods. Eat a variety of them. Include protein with your meals. Eat complex carbs in the morning and around your workouts, and eat lots of vegetables, fruit, and greens. Don’t avoid fats. Stop eating when you are full. Eat when you are hungry. Let your food taste good! Respect your body, don’t starve it, don’t beat it up with chemicals and junk food.

Check out what I ate for the first 3 days of the week. You could swap the order of these around to suit – i.e. on Day 2 if you aren’t hungry pre-workout in the morning having a light shake is a great option, especially if you have an intense workout. Amounts vary, and I’ve listed the amounts I ate for you – but I don’t have rules for myself, I just eat til I’m full.

Day 1

• Meal 1: 3 whole Eggs with sauteed greens (toss a cup of your pre-made salad in the pan), Sprouted Grain English Muffin, Grass-fed butter, espresso (2 shots)
• Meal 2: Green Smoothie
• Meal 3: Pizza (1/4 of my pizza)
• Meal 4: Pumpkin Protein Muffins (2)
• PM Workout
• Meal 5: Soup with Quinoa (about 1 cup of soup, 1/2 cup of quinoa)

Day 2

• Meal 1: Oatmeal blended with banana, chia seeds, cinnamon and almond milk – optional, blend in a serving of vanilla protein powder (about 1/2 cup oatmeal, 1/2 banana 1 T chia seeds, 1/2 cup almond milk)
• AM Workout
• Meal 2: Protein Shake with raspberries
• Meal 3: Tuna + Avocado Salad with Quinoa and a serving of your Mixed Greens Salad (1/3 of an avocado, 1 can tuna, 1/2 cup quinoa)
• Meal 4: Pumpkin protein muffins (2)
• Meal 5: Soup with avocado (about a cup of soup, 1/4 avocado)

Day 3:

• Meal 1: 3 eggs with sauteed greens, quinoa (about 1/2 cup)
• Rest Day
• Meal 2: Green Juice, pumpkin protein muffins (2)
• Meal 3: pizza (1/4 of my pizza)
• Meal 4: Soup with avocado (about 1 1/4 cup soup with 1/3 avocado)
• chocolate chip cookie dough (about 1/4 cup)

I wasn’t as hungry on Day 3, probably because I didn’t do a workout. It’s important to be okay with listening to your body. If you’re not hungry, you shouldn’t force yourself to eat. When you’re hungry, eat the best foods you can!

Let me make healthy eating easy for you! Take my Eating Type Quiz!

*please note: reproduction of this, or any of the copyrighted work or images on this website without written permission from the author and owner of the site is a violation of copyright law and will be pursued to the full extent of the law. This content has been created by the site creator and is for educational use on thebettyrocker.com. Do not plagiarize or reproduce this, or any content from this site. Sharing links and referencing these articles with permission is the proper approach to take. Use the contact form if you have any questions.

The post 5-Step Food Prep and Recipes Guide for a Lean, Healthy Body appeared first on The Betty Rocker.

One of the questions I get asked a lot is if it’s “okay to eat whole eggs.”

And that’s a really good question, because opinions abound.

Will it raise your cholesterol?

Can’t you just get protein from eating the whites?

Why spend the extra money to buy organic or pastured eggs?

I’m here to answer your questions and share exactly what I do and why.

I eat 2-3 whole eggs every day.

By throwing out the yolk and only eating egg whites, you’re essentially throwing out the most nutrient dense, antioxidant-rich, vitamin and mineral loaded portion of the egg.

The yolks contain many B-vitamins, trace minerals, vitamin A, folate, choline, lutein, and other powerful nutrients that do wonders for your body.

Even the protein in egg whites isn’t as powerful without the yolks to balance out the amino acid profile and make the protein more bio-available.

Often I do add some additional egg whites from a carton to my whole eggs to both save a little money and to increase the protein content without losing the nutrient benefits that you get from eating the yolks with the whites.

Not to mention that the egg yolks from free range chickens are loaded with healthy omega-3 fatty acids. Yolks contain more than 90% of the calcium, iron, phosphorus, zinc, thiamin, B6, folate, and B12, and panthothenic acid of the egg.

In addition, the yolks contain ALL of the fat soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K in the egg, as well as ALL of the essential fatty acids (EFAs).

Afraid of the cholesterol content?

Don’t be…when you eat a food that contains a high amount of dietary cholesterol such as eggs, your body down-regulates its internal production of cholesterol to balance things out.

This is something you only need to worry about if you’re eating a lot of processed foods – but I’m guessing that’s not you!

On the other hand, if you don’t eat enough cholesterol, your body simply produces more since cholesterol has dozens of important vital functions in the body.

If you are struggling with high cholesterol, or are under a doctor’s care you should be mindful of your consumption of fatty foods – the greatest danger being from the foods that raised your cholesterol in the first place, the processed ones.

You should definitely add fiber-rich foods to your diet like whole grains (soaked, sprouted or fermented of course!), cruciferous vegetables and fruits for example.

Eating a whole food based diet that you base on foods combined to make delicious and tasty meals will go miles to adding years to your life and life to your years. Combine that with regular exercise and you’ve got a recipe for success and low cholesterol.

I supplement my whole food eating with all-natural protein powders like the ones my brand Whole Betty has created, including:

I Vanilla Protein Powder 

Berry Green Protein Powder

The post Whole Eggs or Just Egg Whites? appeared first on The Betty Rocker.

I’m so happy it’s summer so I can enjoy some of my favorite fruits – cherries and blackberries

Cherries

Cherries are rich in anthocyanins, a plant pigment that gives them their dark red color – which act as an antioxidant, protecting us from inflammation.

According to a 2012 study at Oregon Health & Science University, researchers stated that cherries may have “the highest anti inflammatory content of any food.”

Blackberries

Blackberries, and berries in general have been examined for their antioxidant potential for years. Berries are high in fiber, and rank relatively low on the glycemic idex – one of the reasons I prefer including them in my green smoothies daily over bananas, dates or some of the sweeter fruits.

Fruits that Aren’t In Season…..

• Have to travel for long distances, sometimes across the globe, to reach your grocery store.
• Are often picked before they’re fully ripe, to make sure they don’t spoil on the way to your table. This means that they lose a good deal of their nutrient content – not to mention much of their flavor!
• Have the potential to cause a greater negative impact on the planet – shipping foods long-distance increases atmosphere pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, and depletion of natural resources.

Eating fruits and vegetables that are in season puts us in harmony with the natural order of the world around us, and nourishes our bodies in the best way possible.

A quick word on frozen fruits/veggies:

Researchers from the Austrian Consumers Administration confirm that fruits and vegetables picked in season and frozen are higher in nutrient content than those flown in out of season from abroad.

This can be a great money-saving strategy and give you more options all year round.

Choose organic fruits and vegetables whenever possible:

• This can reduce your exposure to harmful chemicals from pesticides and herbicides
• It’s been shown time and time again that organic produce is significantly higher in antioxidants than conventional produce
• Support agricultural practices that increase the health and mineral content of the soil. One of the reasons organic produce may sometimes be a few cents higher is because of the cost of farming practices that do not rely on chemical fertilizers and sprays. Show your support of these earth-friendly practices by purchasing organic produce when possible.

You can often save on organic produce by getting it from your local farmer’s market, CSA, or a natural grocery store that buys greater quantities of organic produce, and is able to pass that large volume rate over to you. Conventional chain grocery stores may only buy a small amount of organic produce, as demand is lower – causing them to raise their prices.

Just a few more reasons to enjoy some delicious berries, cherries or seasonal fruit today!

The post How Eating Seasonal Fruits is Great For Your Health appeared first on The Betty Rocker.

As you know I’m a big fan of green smoothies, and today I wanted to show you just one simple way you could prep your smoothies for the week to save you lots of time daily.

Personally, I’m on the go all day – and if I had to choose one thing I didn’t want to miss every day – one thing that really made a difference to my muscle tone, my immune system, my energy and my overall health – it would be my daily green smoothie.

Join me in the kitchen as I share two green smoothie recipes that pair well together, and some of my best strategies for saving money and time when it comes to making them – to keep you from ever missing out on one of the most important parts of YOUR day.

I also sharing an optional spice blend to give you and idea of other ways you can “jazz up” your smoothies (works great as a topping for oatmeal too).

3 Ways Green Smoothies Help You Save Time and Boost Your Health

1. Green Smoothies are a super efficient and tasty ways to ensure you’re getting lots of micronutrients, anti-inflammatory compounds, phytochemicals your body needs to support your immune system and function at its best on a daily basis.

2. Eating (or in this case drinking) your greens supports your liver – your body’s primary fat-burning organ.

One of your liver’s important jobs is to filter out toxins and wastes, and if you’re eating too many processed foods it can get clogged up and not be able to do its OTHER important job which is metabolizing fat.

3. Greens are also full of fiber which supports a healthy gut, moving food and anything that could be stuck along the pathway through you and out of you to keep your immune system healthy and your stomach from bloating.

I know that making a green smoothie that tastes good on the fly can seem a little daunting, so one of my time-saving solutions for you is to prep bags of greens and bags of fruit ahead of time to set yourself up for the week. This is actually super easy, and you can do any variety of greens and tasty ingredients you like.

1. Bag the greens.

I like to wash and chunk up a couple varieties of greens into my ziplock bags. You can use a combination of spinach, kale, Swiss chard, romaine, or other dark leafy greens. You can also buy pre-washed greens mixes and simply separate them into the smoothie bags.

Rotate through different kinds of greens throughout the month to keep your body infused with a spectrum of phytonutrients. You might also like adding a protein-greens powder like Whole Betty Berry Green Protein, to add a wider spectrum of greens to your smoothie that already has 18 grams of protein.

Other optional greens to include:

1 stalk celery
1/4 cucumber
1/4 cup (approximate) fresh parsley
Fresh herbs (mint, parsley, basil, etc)

2. Add flavor and protein

Depending on your greens, it can be fun to add some spices to “jazz up” the flavor of your blend, and/or you can simply use the flavor of your protein powder to give your smoothie a little more flavor pop.

When it comes to spices, I like to make a spice blend and put a small amount of the blend in each bag along with the greens. One of my favorites is:

• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp cacao
• 1 tsp nutmeg or cardamom
• 1 tsp ginger (or use fresh ginger root)

Mix those together and add 1/2-1 tsp of the mix to each bag. This might be the stage where you want to throw in some additional fiber and nutrient-dense ingredients like chia seeds, flax seeds or if your doctor has you adding some gut supportive powders like glutamine, or BCAA’s, you can toss them into the bag too so your smoothies take less time to make when you’re ready for them.

If you like a fruiter taste, try Berry Green Protein – it’s got a delicious strawberry vanilla flavor, and will boost your smoothie with 18 grams of organic, plant-based protein. Or try I Vanilla Protein, also organic and plant based for a smooth vanilla addition and 20 grams of protein.

3. Bag your Fruit.

You can skip this step if you buy frozen fruit. If you buy fresh, you can make separate singe use bags of fruit and freeze them (or refrigerate if you know you’ll use it soon). Then you can just dump the two bags (greens and fruit) together, add some liquid, and you’re ready to blend.

I usually buy whatever seasonal fruit looks good (like apples, pears or peaches) and frozen berries to save money. If I’m using a citrus fruit, adding a wedge of that can help keep cut up apples or pears from browning if it’s going in the refrigerator, and adding a squeeze of it to frozen fruit will give you the benefits of the juice when you add it in later.

A couple optional ideas to build your fruit bag:

• 1 apple OR pear, cut up into pieces (remove the core)
• 2/3 cup frozen or fresh berries: assorted or blueberries, blackberries, strawberries
• 1/4-1/2 fresh lemon, squeezed into the bag

4. Add liquid and blend!

I use an unsweetened non-dairy milk for my smoothies, usually something like almond milk. This is totally your choice. I’ve been using a Blendtec blender for years to make my smoothies. This is one of those high speed, high powered blenders that could blend a sneaker it’s so strong, so it has no trouble handling and pulverizing these types of ingredients and turning them into something that comes out more like a milkshake.

If the Blendtec seems a little pricey, you can look into getting a refurbished blender from Blendtec (great money saver), or check out the Nutribullet – also a great option though not quite as powerful.

Keep in mind that if your green smoothies aren’t blended to tiny particles, you will want to eat/drink them a little more slowly in order to allow some pre-digestive enzymes to work. Gulping them down may lead to a little bit of stomach ache.

You also want to be sure to wash your greens. You’re eating food raw – cleanliness is paramount.

My formula for washing fruits and vegetables is to add some Apple Cider Vinegar to your (very clean) sink of water or a basin, and rinse them off in there. Use about 1/3-1/2 cup ACV to a basin/sink of water. If your produce isn’t organic, you’ll also want to scrub it gently with a soft bristle brush.

The post Easy Weekly Green Smoothie Set-Up and Prep appeared first on The Betty Rocker.

With so many protein powders out there, how do you know which one to choose?

If you’re like me – eating as many foods in an all-natural state as possible and minding your added sugar intake – even some of the “all-natural” protein powders can present a challenge.

This guide will help you navigate the often confusing maze of choices in protein powder out there, and give you some of my recommendations on trusted brands.

My hope is that you can use the guide to find the best option for you, whether or not you use my recommendations.

Protein powder is a SUPPLEMENT to a healthy, whole food diet, and is not something you have to have to be healthy. That said, it can definitely be a very helpful and cost-effective way to get enough protein in your system without having to cook all your meals.

Please read Protein 101 to understand why you need it, how much you need, and to see if having a supplement is a good idea for you.

What to Look For:

When it comes to your protein powder, it’s more about the ingredients and their source than it is anything else. What’s in a powder mix (or what’s NOT) is what gets my stamp of approval. Is the source of the protein one that’s readily absorbed by your body? Is it a complete protein (all essential amino acids present)? 

PDCAA’s (protein digestibility-corrected amino acid score) measure the nutritional quality of a protein. Not only “how much” but also how well our body can use and absorb it. As you can see from the chart, the animal-based proteins weigh in at the top. However, soy, rapeseed and pea are strong contenders in the plant protein spectrum.

Why does this matter? Well, if you’re going to buy a protein powder supplement, you want to get your money’s worth. You want high quality bioavailable protein full of amino acids that promote muscle protein synthesis and support your cellular activities.

There are 20 total amino acids your body needs to function. Eleven of those are made IN your body, but the other 9 need to come from the foods you eat – we call those “essential amino acids.” Some of the most common plant-based sources of protein you’ll find in protein powders are pea and hemp (which is not on this chart, but should be!), which both contain all 9 of the essential amino acids. 

While soy scores high marks, I do not recommend soy protein powder generally, as the majority of available soy in the US is genetically modified. Organic, fermented soy – which is a staple food in many Asian cultures (think miso, natto, tempeh and certain soy sauces) is a wonderful food. The processed soy we find in protein powders, however, should be avoided – especially soy protein isolates.

In addition to the raw material, you also want to look at the source of those ingredients. If it’s plant-based, is it organic, or at least non-GMO, grown in good, healthy soil, and free from potentially harmful chemicals? If it’s animal based, where does it come from? What is the source?

It’s also about how the protein is actually made. There is an extraction process that takes the raw material into a powdered concentrated protein, so I’ll give you some things to look for there in the different kinds.

Added Sugar in Protein Powder

A note on added sugars: the plain version of the protein powders I use generally don’t have added sugar (even natural sugars). However, if you’re not planning to add any fruit or natural sweetness to your shake, this can be pretty unpalatable! I generally opt for a protein that’s been sweetened with a natural plant source like monk fruit, coconut, or stevia.

As I was designing my own protein powder, I learned a lot about stevia. There are 2 main kinds that are used in most protein powders, stevia reb A (a higher grade, less commonly used) and stevia reb B (a lower grade, more commonly used as it’s less expensive). Also the way the stevia sweetness is extracted out of the plant also affects the flavor and sweetness. Alcohol is most commonly used in processing it, which accounts for its funny aftertaste.

I made Berry Green Protein with an organic stevia Reb A, and we never use alcohol to process it – so it has a truly balanced and mild sweetness which I haven’t found to be the case in many stevia-sweetened products unfortunately.

A lot more companies than ever before are opting to use low-calorie, or no-calorie sweeteners in their supplements to meet the growing consciousness about the detriments of overconsumption of sugar. Be on the lookout!

I strongly encourage you to avoid any sucralose (aka Splenda), dextrose, maltodextrin, cane sugar, and sugar alcohols.

Sugar alcohols like erythritol and xylitol are very popular right now in mainstream products because they are a no calorie sugar that adds a lot of sweetness.

Sugar alcohols don’t digest in the body and when taken in high amounts can cause bloating or irritation to some people. Many people will be fine and notice no effects, I just want to remind you to always listen to your body and notice the source of sugar in your foods. Also, erythritol is made from cornstarch, which may be GMO cornstarch. If you’re ok with sugar alcohols, I’d give priority to organic products.

I do pay attention to added sugar in my protein powder – just like I would with any food I’m buying that’s pre-made. Swapping out “natural sugar” for other sugar is still adding sugar to the diet – but as long as you’re being mindful of your daily overall sugar intake, a little natural sweetener in your protein powder from a wholesome source probably won’t send you over the edge…just be sure you know what you’re putting in your body and choose mindfully.

Read the label and be sure you know how much sugar is included in a serving (for example if the label is referencing 1 scoop, and it’s 6g of sugar – but you need 2 scoops to make 1 serving, that’s actually 12g of sugar – nearly half of the daily recommended limit for women).

Even some sugars that sound healthy can be overused – I’ve seen some “healthy” protein powders just loaded with sugar from rice syrup or another non-threatening sounding sweetener. So just pay attention.

I know that the more accustomed I get to eating sweet things on a daily basis, the more I want them. My goal is to avoid added sugar as often as possible, and enjoy it on purpose when I do eat it. So just be aware and mindful and be sure you’re not “nickel and diming” your sugar intake away in your supplements.

How I Use It:

I rotate through different protein supplements just like I rotate through different whole food protein sources, different greens in my smoothies, different forms of complex carbs, etc. It’s important to give your body a variety of amino acids – but key to give it the ESSENTIAL aminos – meaning the 9 that the body can’t make on its own.

I like to rotate between a couple different kinds of protein supplements over the course of the week – which stretches out my supplies. I’m basing most of my protein intake in the food that I make or cook, so this just rounds out my protein intake.

Of note: I sincerely appreciate my readers who help me stay on top of the protein powders on my list, as companies do change their formulations periodically (for various reasons, i.e. to save money, or because an ingredient is no longer available). If you notice something in this article that isn’t what you’re seeing on a manufacturer’s label, please feel free to tell me in the comments, as I WILL investigate, and I do update this list* and stand by my recommendations – these are all brands that are in the heavy rotation in my cupboard!

#1 SUPERFOOD PROTEIN POWDER (PLANT-BASED)

Why I recommend this: I like to get more for my money. If I’m using a protein powder that I’m already paying for, I want the added boost of other nutrients that add diversity and variety to my micronutrient intake. 

I give preference to organic protein in this case, and also am looking for a non-GMO label. 100% Certified Organic means non-GMO, but if you can’t find an organic protein (sometimes it’s hard to source ALL the ingredients as organic), look for the non-GMO label to ensure you’re not putting genetically modified foods in your body inadvertently.  

What to Look OUT for:

It’s so important to know how the plant protein has been extracted from its source. There are 3 main methods for extraction:

1. Hexane based: hexane is a chemical neurotoxin derived from petroleum that can damage your central nervous system, and is commonly used to remove the plant oils in soy protein as well as some other types. AVOID.
2. High Heat: when plants are exposed to high heat in order to remove the natural oils to make the protein powder, other nutrients are damaged and this can make the end result not as absorbable or beneficial to you. AVOID.
3. Enzyme-based or fermented: natural enzymes are added to the plant seeds to remove the oils. This is the preferred method for making plant proteins. RECOMMENDED (this is how my brand, Whole Betty does it).

What to Look FOR:

Read your label and make sure you know what everything in those ingredients are, number one. I look for a plant-based protein that includes sprouted or fermented grains when grains are used (rice, for example).

You may see ingredients like superfoods, enzyme blends, probiotics, BCAA’s, or other components that may be useful. 

RECOMMENDED SUPERFOOD PROTEIN POWDERS:

Whole Betty I Vanilla Protein Powder

Features: USDA Certified Organic and Certified Non-GMO, complete (contains all essential amino acids the body cannot make on its own) plant-based vanilla protein powder.

Made with a blend of 4 superfood protein sources, pea, chia, pumpkin seed and cranberry seed. Sweetened with monk fruit.

I was so tired of buying expensive vanilla protein powder only to discover it tasted plant-y, or was a gritty texture. I worked for 2 years to source and create a delicious smooth vanilla blend, made from organic plants that can be shaken up in liquid for a quick, on-the-go nourishing protein shake, blended up in a smoothie with fruit and greens, or baked in any of my tried and true recipes to boost the protein content!

You’ll be saying “I love vanilla” right along with me when you try this delicious protein powder!

GLUTEN FREE, DAIRY FREE, ORGANIC

Protein: 20 g/serving

Superfoods: I used only the best quality organic ingredients, harvested at their peak potency, including: organic pea, organic cranberry seed, organic chia seed, and organic pumpkin seed

Whole Betty Berry Green Protein

Features: USDA Certified Organic and Certified Non-GMO, unique in that it features both complete plant-based protein and 15 superfoods in a veggie, greens and fruit blend.

All 20 amino acids, including an excellent BCAA profile. The organic pea protein is sourced from North American yellow peas produced with a natural fermentation process which uses no chemical solvents.

I know this because I founded this company after years of frustration not being able to get what I wanted.

We work closely with our certified organic growers to harvest the greens, vegetables and fruits at the optimal time, then concentrated to preserve their nutritional potency. The brightly-colored, non-oxidized powders are protected from direct heat, UV light and moisture during the manufacturing process.

GLUTEN FREE, DAIRY FREE, ORGANIC

Protein: 18 g/serving

Superfoods: I used only the best quality organic ingredients, harvested at their peak potency, including: organic pea, spirulina, barley grass juice, wheat grass* juice, chlorella, spinach, carrot, beet, tomato, kale, parsley, apple, raspberry, cranberry, blueberry 

*wheat grass is GLUTEN FREE – the grasses of the plant do not contain gluten.

Amino Acid Profile: all 9 essential amino acids, BCAA’s, plus a broad spectrum including: alanine, arginine, aspartic acid, cysteine, glutamic acid, glycine, histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, meethionine, phenylalanine, proline, serine, threonine, tryotophan, tyrosine, valinee.

Visit our Whole Betty Supplements Page to see our other products!

Four Sigmatic Superfood Protein

Features: A 100% organic blend of pea, hemp, chia, pumpkin and coconut this 100% plant-based, highly-digestible, and complete protein powder is unflavored – contains no sweeteners and has 18 grams of protein per serving.

Plus they offer it in individual packets for easy, on-the-go goodness. I also love the addition of mushrooms and adaptogenic herbs, something Four Sigmatic is known for (check out their other products).

Sweetened with coconut sugar and monk fruit, this checks in at 2g of sugar per serving, putting it on par with most of the lower sugar proteins. Really an excellent and versatile product. 

GLUTEN FREE DAIRY FREE ORGANIC

Superfoods: Pea, Hemp, Chia, Coconut, Pumpkin, Ashwagandha, Eleuthero, Cordyceps, Reishi, Lion’s Mane, Turkey Tail, Chaga

Protein: 18g/serving

NOTES: This one is not flavored so you’ll want to be sure you’re mixing it into a smoothie or shake or something you’re adding a natural flavor or sweetness source to, think smoothie for example with banana, strawberries, greens and nut milk. Consider adding a scoop of cacao powder for chocolate superfood goodness. 

#2 SINGLE-SOURCE PROTEIN (Plant-Based)

Why I recommend this: As an alternative to a multi-source or superfood plant-based protein, a simple, single-source protein is also a great option, as long as the source of the plant is highly absorbable (see the PDCAAs chart above), quality grown in fertile soil (organic is preferred) and has not been treated with chemicals during the manufacturing process. 

It’s hard to tell for sure these days if everything has been optimal, so usually, the best we can do is to look for the label to have the certified organic seal and “NON-GMO.” I also recommend you just look up the company and read about anything you can to do with their sourcing practices.

I like using single-sourced plant protein in baking, so when I have it on hand that’s what I’ll normally use it for. It’s also great to use in a smoothie or shake.

What to Look for: Look for the organic and non-GMO labels on your protein. Read the label on the back to see what kind of sugar was used to sweeten the protein.

Try to get a protein powder with less ingredients than more, especially with a single-source protein powder. If it’s a flavored one like vanilla, you should recognize the ingredients being used – a protein source, a vanilla flavor and a sweetener.

RECOMMENDED PLANT-BASED, SINGLE INGREDIENT PROTEIN POWDERS:

Nutivas Naturals Hemp Protein

Features: Made from raw hemp seeds; Certified organic and non-GMO; Vegan; All 20 amino acids, including the 9 essential; Essential fatty acids (omega 3 & 6); Good source of dietary fiber; Gently cold-processed; Never hexane processed; Always chemical free; Non-irradiated; Non-BPA container

Protein: 15g/serving

Amino Acid Profile: All 20 amino acids, including the 9 essential

#3 Whey Protein Isolate

Why I recommend this: Whey is a great and natural protein source if you tolerate dairy well. Whey contains whey proteins, lactose, minerals and small amounts of fats.

What to look for: When it comes to protein powder it’s ALL about the quality of the process the manufacturer uses – not to mention the source ingredients. What you want to look for is a high-quality grass-fed whey that doesn’t contain all the fillers, artificial sweeteners and junk that you’ll, unfortunately, find in far too many whey-based protein powders.

Here is how whey protein powders are made, so you can know what to look for and how to find a quality whey protein. READ YOUR LABELS and ingredients always.

There are several different methods that accomplish the filtration of the whey protein from whey – and may often be heated, sprayed or flavored, colored, etc (no different than non-dairy protein powders – which is why it pays to read the labels).

There are 3 ways whey protein is processed:

Whey Protein Concentrate (WPC) – Produced via ultrafiltration of whey, this refers to whey proteins that contain greater than 90% protein concentration, but could be as little as 20%. Usually the specific concentrations will be notated following the term “WPC”, such as WPC “85”. The rest of the concentration is made up of lactose, minerals, and fats.

—>avoid this if you are lactose intolerant, instead opting for one of the 2 below (which are often more expensive due to their processing)

Whey Protein Isolate (WPI) – May be produced by a variety of membrane filtration techniques, with the goal of reaching greater than 90% protein concentration and removal of most (if not all) lactose. This is known as the “purest” whey. Manufacturers will also often combine filtration with an ion-exchange technique to selectively filter out particles by ionic charge rather than just molecular size.

Whey Protein Hydrolysate (WPH) – Whey protein hydrolysates are produced via enzymatic hydrolysis of either WPCs or WPIs. Essentially, this acts as a method of “pre-digesting” the protein by separating (i.e. lysing) peptide bonds; hence the time for digestion and absorption of amino acids will be reduced – which may mean there is greater muscle protein synthesis post-workout. The process produces a bitter taste, so it’s often masked by sweeteners.

Avoid brands that have sugar added in the form of fructose, dextrose, and maltodextrin.

Other things that add to the quality of a whey protein is whey from farm-raised, pasture-grazed, grass-fed cows that haven’t had any bovine growth hormone injected – something that is HUGELY important to me as a consumer and should be a strong consideration in purchasing your dairy products. The quality of any animal product is going to be vastly affected by its environment, diet and treatment.

I don’t use dairy very often as I don’t digest it easily so I don’t have one from experience to recommend at the moment.

#4 Egg White Protein Powder

Why I recommend this: Egg white protein is one of the most bioavailable proteins in existence. It’s got all the essential amino acids, and it’s great for anyone without a specific dietary restriction.

You may find lecithin added into this kind of protein – avoid soy lecithin, opt for sunflower lecithin or none. Look for egg whites from hormone-free chickens, and be sure there is no added sugars you don’t want in your body, and minimal to no additional products in the protein you buy.

What to Look for:

1. Where do the eggs come from – for example, are they farm raised or commercial?
2. Have the chickens had growth hormone injected?
3. How has the protein powder been processed? Typically they will pasteurize it (heat) to kill any harmful bacteria. Flash pasteurization, with no additional heating, will ensure the protein isn’t inactivated.
4. Is there any added sugar, sweetener or additional products added?

I personally think it’s important to get a variety of protein sources, so this is one I keep in the mix on occasion and use in baking. I don’t use it as a staple since I prefer to just eat whole eggs in their natural form, and usually opt for a collagen and a plant-based protein as my main 2 staples.

But when it comes to absorbable, quality protein, egg white is right at the top. I often use it when I’m making protein pancakes or muffins – though be sure to add a little extra liquid if you do as this is a protein powder that will affect the texture of your baked goods.

I use this type of protein powder the least, but it is a great option and these are 2 brands that meet my standards:

RECOMMENDED EGG WHITE PROTEIN:

Naked Nutrition

Features: Non-GMO, Egg Whites from US Farms, No Additives, Paleo, Dairy Free, Gluten Free, Soy Free

Protein: 25g / serving

Paleo Protein

Features: Soy Free, GMO Free, Egg Whites From USA Farms, Dairy Free, Gluten Free, Soy Free

Protein: 25g / serving

#5 Collagen Peptides or Powdered Bone Broth

Why I recommend this: Collagen peptides are always in my rotation for supplementing in additional amino acids. While collagen powders generally contain as many as 19 amino acids, there are 3 that are highly concentrated and support skin, bone and joint health.

I would not substitute collagen for a complete protein (see above recommendations) but definitely use it as a supplement to the others.

Here’s a video where I talk about why I use Collagen Peptides, go over some of the research and share ways to use it.

Collagen used to make its way into our diets through foods like bone broths, slow-cooked organ meats, kidney pies, baked beef hearts, whole crustaceans, and whole-fish soups and stews. But if you’re not regularly eating these types of foods, you may not be getting any of this goodness into your body.

It’s really versatile in that the plain ones are tasteless, can be mixed in anything, dissolve well, and the benefits of collagen protein are many.

You can find a lot of uses for it outside of adding it to a smoothie, for example, I make a delicious chocolate nut butter spread I call “healthy Nutella” that I have for breakfast with my homemade buckwheat bread. I add it in my baking, and swirl it into my hot chocolate.

What to look for: Look for hydrolyzed collagen – which just means that the naturally larger molecules of collagen are broken down into smaller molecules called peptides for better absorption in our bodies.

Check to see that other ingredients have not been added. It’s not necessary to take in anything other than pure collagen peptides.

Collagen peptides are well absorbed by the digestive system and make their way to targeted tissues where they act as building blocks and trigger our own internal collagen production.

You can also get flavored collagen – and with that I would stress looking for one with the LEAST amount of added ingredients be mindful of added sugars. 

RECOMMENDED COLLAGEN PEPTIDES:

Whole Betty Full Body Collagen 

Features: hydrolyzed collagen protein powder sourced from pasture-raised German cows  

Peptides: 12.5 grams/serving

30 servings per container

Primal Kitchen Vanilla Coconut

Features: grass-fed collagen, sugar-free, dairy-free, gluten-free, soy-free, paleo-approved

Peptides: 10g/serving (serving = 1 scoop)

Other natural Protein Sources:

Also of note, nutritional yeast and brewer’s yeast are good sources of protein that also contain selenium, chromium and B-complex vitamins that most people need.

I love sprinkling nutritional yeast on my popcorn (non-GMO popcorn, just look for the label!) with a little extra virgin olive oil, or adding it to a salad for a cheesy flavor.

Spirulina also has 2 of the same amino acids found in collagen, and is a great plant-based source of additional protein. I added Spirulina to Berry Green Protein, along with many other nourishing greens.

Last Updated: 1/30/20 -Betty Rocker

For more information about Protein, how much you need, the best food sources for it, and how it works in your body, be sure to read Protein 101.

Shop the Whole Betty by Betty Rocker collection of supplements!

The post Guide to Choosing Protein Powders appeared first on The Betty Rocker.

I know I’m not the only one – whether it’s the holidays or a weekend with friends – it happens, and I would argue those occasional indulgences are an important part of living a healthy, balanced life.

If you are focusing primarily on healthy, whole food eating, those occurrences won’t derail you from your goals.

They can leave you feeling a bit depleted though, and in those cases I personally spend a day including very specific foods to restore my fluids, increase the fiber in my gut to help move things along, and get my body and energy back on track.

I know I used the word “detox” in this post, and it’s really a misnomer.  So many of us respond to this idea that we need to “do something” or “buy something” to rid our bodies of toxic substances.

The truth is, your body has its own mechanisms to eliminate and filter out toxins, and the smartest thing you can do to give yourself a health boost is to support those pathways with healthy, whole foods, clean air and clean water.

There are 3 major organs that support your body’s natural detoxification pathways, the liver, the kidneys and the colon.

Your kidneys filter your blood, removing digestive byproducts and producing urine which excretes them from your body. Your colon, or large intestine, takes what is left from nutrient absorption in your small intestine and gets rid of the leftovers. Your liver performs many functions (including fat metabolism) but one of its important jobs is filtering your blood to neutralize and help eliminate harmful chemicals. It does this for things you put on your skin, things you ingest and things you breathe.

So while these steps are not going to “detox” you or “cleanse” you (those are marketing jargon used to sell products generally) they are going to support your body’s natural detoxification pathways, and help restore you energetically if you’re feeling depleted.

Here is what we’re really doing….

Easy One-Day Energy Restore and Immune Support Plan

1: Ginger, Lemon, ACV Tea all Day

Lemons are a great source of vitamin C, an essential vitamin that supports our immune system. Fresh ginger has many proven health benefits, including being an effective antioxidant, anti-inflammatory agent, and anti-nausea compound. Not to mention it gives a nice, spicy kick to anything you add it to.

ACV – or Apple Cider Vinegar – can be supportive to your gut as it contains both malic acid and acetic acid, and the ACV from brands like Braggs which contain “the mother” (the sediment you see in the bottom of the bottle that’s formed from pectin and apple residue) are the ones I use.

1. Boil a large pot of hot water. Pour into a thermos or fill a large mug.
2. Cut up a lemon and remove the seeds.
3. Squeeze the lemon juice into the hot water, and throw in the rinds (only if you have organic lemons – and be sure you’ve washed them).
4. Remove the skin from a chunk of ginger root (about 1/2 inch to an inch depending on how much you’re making), or scrub it well. Grate or chop it into the hot water. With organic ginger I often leave the skin on, but it’s personal preference.
5. Add 1-2 Tablespoons ACV.
6. Put this into a thermos and drink it throughout the day.

Step 2: First meal of the day: Include Garlic and Greens

Focus your first meal of the day on 2 foods that are great for boosting your immune system and supporting your gut: greens and garlic.

• Dark leafy greens have an abundance of phytonutrients and their fiber speeds up digestion.
• Garlic contains a highly beneficial compound called allicin, which has potent antiviral, antibacterial and anti cancer properties.
• I like to lightly sauté some spinach, swiss chard, kale or dandelion greens and garlic with a little olive oil, and have it with my eggs.

Step 3: Green Smoothie

For restorative purposes, I specifically go super simple with what I put into the green smoothie, including organic fruits and veggies, and focusing on low glycemic fruits (berries and apples will generally be lower in fruit sugar than tropical fruits like banana and mango).

Restore Green Smoothie Recipe 1
1 apple
4 strawberries
2-3 cups baby spinach or other leafy green
1 cup water (more as needed)
1 chunk fresh ginger

Restore Green Smoothie Recipe 2
1 red grapefruit (peeled)
1 banana (peeled)
2-3 cups fresh greens
1 cup water (more as needed)

If you’re looking for more Green Smoothie recipes, visit this page.

Step 4: The rest of your meals

Focus the rest of your meals on simple, whole foods. Choose carbohydrates like quinoa, amaranth, brown rice, yams or sweet potatoes, and prepare them simply (broiled, steamed or baked). Check out my homemade buckwheat bread for a tasty wholesome bread made with one ingredient.

Choose lean protein like organic, free-range chicken or turkey breast, or wild-caught fish and whole, pasture-raised eggs.

Boost your immune system further with fresh herbs like basil and parsley, and consider adding turmeric, cinnamon and ginger. I love making a light pesto to add some naturally fresh and pungent garlic, lemon and basil to almost any meal of the day.

Step 5: Beverages

The best beverages to include on a restorative day where you’re looking to re-hydrate, and support your kidneys, liver and colon should be mostly water – and home made tea. Enjoy your coffee, espresso or cappuccino another day.

That’s it, simple and easy – don’t beat yourself up for enjoying  special occasions – just get back to your daily plan and give your body a little extra support with these easy to follow steps.

Your Follow-Up Plan

Supporting yourself with a plan that allows for occasional indulgences and special treats plus includes variety, all the nutrients you need to be active and keep your body fat to a level you’re happy about is super important!

You can find many, many examples of meals I put together to create and maintain my physique and feel my absolute best on this blog – that have helped me and thousands of other readers, and I encourage you to browse through these pages to find some ideas.

If you want a more structured approach to putting this together with meal plans and daily menus, grocery lists and recipes to use, I suggest reading the Body Fuel System and using the 30 day meal plan it includes as a template to learning this stuff and making it a lifestyle.

The Body Fuel System uses my simple, proven Eating Types to make it easy to stay on track. It also gives you healthy, fat-burning recipes and foods you can eat to look and feel your BEST every day!

Recipes like….

This is my signature eating system and it contains 6 weeks of done-for-you meal planning and recipe guides! You will not only learn the strategies that have given me long-term success, but also enjoy the time-saving benefits of having it all planned out for you! 

Learn more right here, and find out why people love this program so much!

The post Easy One-Day “Detox” appeared first on The Betty Rocker.

She told me that she got her work at a time in her life when she was really into tattoo subculture, but that some of the ink covered by her clothes was stuff she didn’t care for as much anymore. She said that even though she didn’t regret the bad tattoos, she wouldn’t get them now.

It got me thinking about the different ways we develop our identities, and that those forays into different subcultures leave marks that shape who we become.

Tattoos, hairstyles, fashion – and diets.

How we practice food is just as personal as how we choose our fashion, how we practice our spiritual beliefs, how we choose our pets, and any number of life choices that define who we are.

While getting rid of extra body fat does wonderful things for our long-term health, I am positive that the journey we go on to get there is even more important than the end goal.

Full immersion in a Diet will give you great information about your body, new food ideas and help you develop who you are, but taking it too seriously for too long can be limiting – and detrimental to your health.

What troubles me about “diets as identities” isn’t the foods that many of them include, it’s the foods they EXCLUDE.

Each diet has a particular set of parameters that eliminate or restricts specific foods – some of them healthy, whole foods. Some of the foods that get eliminated contain nutrients you can’t live without for an extended period of time without suffering some consequences in how you feel or function.

For example, quinoa – a seed-like grain – is just bursting with manganese, a nutrient that plays a key role in carbohydrate and fat metabolism, bone health and enzyme function.

Manganese is also found in spelt, brown rice, garbanzo beans, rye, soybeans, oats – and spinach, pineapple and pumpkin seeds.

Imagine if you started following a diet that eliminated all grains and legumes, and you weren’t eating enough, or any other dietary sources of manganese. You might find yourself craving chocolate (which also contains manganese) and wondering why.

Manganese is just one simple example, but the bottom line is this: if you are restricting your consumption of specific whole foods for an extended period of time because your diet says they will make you fat, or they’re somehow bad for you, you might miss the signs your body is sending you that it NEEDS those nutrients.Nutrients it’s not getting from the foods your diet does include.

While the long term effects of nutrient deficiency might not be as visible as a bad tattoo, they can certainly impact your life in a big way.

While I get letters about all kinds of side effects from different diets, one of the most common complaints I hear from people is about their sugar (and sometimes chocolate) cravings.

They tell me that their diet is super clean – that they’ve been counting calories diligently, or following something like  paleo, vegan, vegetarian, etc religiously – but they’re struggling with control around sweet stuff.  They blame themselves, suffer from negative self-talk, and obsess over every bite, every calorie taken in to the point where food stops becoming a fun, joyful experience and starts to feels like work.

This is not to disparage any of the diets out there. This is a cautionary tale to remind you to listen to your body over listening to a book/show/person.

If you’re a regular reader, you know that I post recipes that fall into a variety of diets like vegan, paleo, vegetarian and raw, and/or are gluten and dairy free. I believe different things work for different people at different times.

I LOVE FOOD, and I love looking into different diets for cooking inspiration.

I want you to think of diets as paint colors on a palette; take a little from each to create great art – and don’t get stuck on one color.

In the “color spectrum” of recipes and foods from the different eating styles I enjoy, there is one common thread that ties them all together that you should consider when it comes to optimal health. That is the NUTRIENT COMBINATION in your meals. Not calories – nutrients – from WHOLE FOODS.

These tips will help keep your blood sugar stable, your muscles fueled, your body in fat-burn mode, and your brain happy:

• Be sure to eat enough variety of simple and complex carbohydrates from whole food sources (not refined) throughout the day, and that your whole grains have been either soaked, sprouted or fermented to ensure some enzymatic breakdown, and optimal absorption and digestion.
• Eat complete protein with every meal.
• Include healthy fats and a variety of greens throughout the day and week.
• Bake your own goodies and treats using recipes that are based on whole foods, not refined or processed ingredients.
• Treat yourself on occasions of your choosing – and notice how much easier it is to enjoy the experience when you don’t feel deprived.

Forget about what diet it comes from and seek out recipes that include the nutrients your body actually needs to function like the high-performance machine it is, sourced from whole foods.

Now, back to those food cravings, because I want to address the many questions I get about them: the body craves sugar and other sweet things for many reasons.

It may be because it needs energy and nutrients that it’s not getting enough of from any of the other foods in your daily intake.

Sugar cravings can also be associated with comfort or emotion, and are often triggered by stress. If you’re trying to follow a specific diet and restricting yourself endlessly, that in itself is a kind of stress.

If you’re eliminating specific foods and not replacing those nutrients in other ways, how can you be sure your body isn’t having cravings to meet that nutrient need?

This is something you NEED to know: your body self-regulates when you eat to tell you it’s full either by volume or by nutrient density.

That’s why what you feed yourself matters so much.

We all know what volume-full feels like – that’s when you’re stuffed.  Refined sugar, flour and processed and packaged foods made from them are stripped of many nutrients.

You will struggle to stop eating when you eat that kind of “food” because your body won’t hit the nutrient density meter.

But switch to whole foods in combinations that include the nutrients mentioned above, and you will notice how satisfied you feel after a meal – and throughout the day.

No diet guarantees you’re healthy. No number on the scale, no pant size and nothing anybody else says defines it either. You’re healthy when you feel awesome every day and are the Master of what you take in – not the other way around.

I’m not telling you to stop your diet.

I’m asking you to increase your honest awareness of how the food you eat is making you feel on a regular basis.

Is it working? Do you have stable energy, get hungry a few times a day, enjoy dessert or cocktails occasionally without needing them daily, crush your workouts, have regular B.M.’s (bowel movements), have clear eyes, good-smelling breath and rarely get sick?

Or do you often feel bloated, have gas, get headaches, have bad breath, have irregular B.M.’s, skin breakouts, weight fluctuation, hormone fluctuation, erratic energy and consistent sugar cravings?

You got this amazingly complex machine of a body at birth, and it is its own animal.

You’re subject to things beyond your control like gender, your age at this moment, race, and unique genetic composition that makes you tall, short, big boned, small framed and everything in between.

What you are in control of are the experiments you apply to yourself to determine the optimal fuel for you. Just because a particular diet helped you lose 10 pounds a year ago doesn’t mean you should keep following it if your body is talking to you with any of those signs I mentioned above.

If something isn’t working or doesn’t feel right: adjust, change, keep seeking, keep learning, keep trying.

You can’t get it wrong  when you’re eating whole foods and are willing to try a variety of them. This is why I don’t believe there is one perfect diet, and I say different things work for different people at different times.

I like to change things up and check back in with my body every few years to see if it tolerates a food that it used to react poorly to.

Don’t limit yourself, and don’t be afraid to mix things up. Taking out common inflammatory foods, even for a short time can make a big difference in your body’s ability to process nutrients.

Many of my personal recipes are gluten and dairy free, but I go back and forth with those foods in my life because they’re not bad foods – it’s just that eating them constantly and all the time can stress out the body’s processing center.

I also find that it’s not the specific “diet” that makes me (or anyone) successful as it is the SYSTEM we use to nourish ourselves that fits our life – so we can be consistent in our choices and not fall off track because it’s too hard to follow.

“The main “difference” I noticed immediately after starting the Body Fuel System was that I stopped craving sugar all the time. I still would feel a craving every now and then (especially during emotional moments) but because my body was finally “adequately fueled” with complex carbs and proteins and veggies on a regular basis I didn’t feel that desperation for sugar like I used to. I read the Body Fuel System from cover to cover and what I appreciated most was not just the incredible amount of information and advice, but the positive message of self-love and acceptance that Betty Rocker was spreading.

Through her incredible guidance I have learned to love myself and not punish/reward myself with food. Food is my fuel, nothing more, nothing less. Thanks to the nutritional philosophies in the Fuel System I feel as though I finally get it. I don’t feel like I’m on a “diet”. In fact, I feel amazingly nourished all the time! The difference is that since I’m prepping my meals at the beginning of each week/day and actually paying attention to everything that goes into my body, I feel happier and more in control with my life. It has even made me a better friend, team player, sister and teacher. “
-Ashley G.

Like Ashley says, I practice healthy eating as a system – that’s the Body Fuel System – to get a variety of whole foods in my body every day and every week in the most efficient way I can without feeling restricted.  Don’t define yourself by your Diet – define your diet as an ever-evolving SYSTEM based on the results you get through self-experimentation, adventurous cooking, and the enjoyment of real, whole food.

Looking for an eating system to help you navigate any diet and feel strong, healthy and in charge of your food intake?

Check out the Body Fuel System!

The post There’s No Such Thing as a Perfect Diet appeared first on The Betty Rocker.

It is an enormous privilege to have access to so many choices and so much food. And with that abundance of choice, it can be overwhelming to know what the best things are to get for yourself while not breaking the bank.

Taking shortcuts with pre made food might seem convenient because they seem to be saving time or money – but they aren’t always the most nourishing, and can actually be undermining your health and fitness goals.

My goal for you is that what you’re eating is supporting every healthy body function you have going on – and that you can count on your insides working for you long-term – no matter what life throws your way. That’s why I’m such an advocate of cooking, getting food that’s as close to nature as possible as much as we can, and spending just a little time planning for success before we hit the aisles.

Top 10 Money-Saving Strategies

1. Have a plan going in.

Having a plan before I go shopping has been key for me in not overspending. This plan starts by choosing staple recipes for the week and building your grocery list around them.

It might feel like “work” to sit down and look up recipe options, and make a list of the food you want to buy – plus cook…but it’s the most important and rewarding work we can do for ourselves, for our health and for our longevity.

Not to mention, having a plan saves so much money.

When I stopped randomly ordering food, picking up meals to go and shopping for groceries aimlessly, I had more money in my pocket for other things that were important and enjoyable.

For some help with making your grocery list and picking good meals for the week ahead, check out the Body Fuel System!

2. Choose recipes you want to make for the week that have corresponding ingredients.

Collect recipes that you like. You might see a recipe on Facebook that you like, or an instagram post that sounds awesome.

Start keeping a recipe log in a note application in your phone, because you can come up with a list of meals to make for the week faster and more easily when you have some good inspiration. Then you can refer back to them again and again.

• Check out 15 Tips to Make Meal Planning Easy

When you’re coming up with your money-saving plan, it’s really helpful to choose recipes that have ingredients that overlap up so you can buy less items. When I’m planning my week, I choose a couple entrees that could share some of the same vegetables or protein sources, or have similar spices for example. Same thing with my smoothies – I’ll try to pair fruit that I also want to use in say a muffin recipe.

The Body Fuel System was actually designed this way because it was exactly how I was eating and was how I made my life easier. Once I had picked out the best recipes for the week for my breakfasts, entrees, smoothies and snacks, I’d just build my grocery list around the recipes. Sometimes I’d change ingredients in a recipe to be more cost effective so I could buy less ingredients but still enjoy a good variety of foods.

3. Organize your list for easy shopping and stick to it

Organize your list by category so you can whip through the store: i.e. Greens and Veggies, Meats and Protein, Grains, Seeds and Nuts, Pantry Items.

Having the list and organizing it like this helps keep you away from the aisles or areas where things are stored that feel tempting.

Food companies spend thousands of dollars testing their packaging, catchphrases and marketing so you’ll want to buy things you don’t need. Stick to your list!

4. Always look for VALUE

For me, that’s what is in season, what is the best deal, and what I can afford. Even though it’s nice to buy organic as much as possible, sometimes the better value is found in local, non-organic produce.

• Read Betty Rocker’s Healthy Eating Checklist

An important note on buying organic: remember that most conventional grocery stores are going to mark up the price on organic items because they are NOT buying them in as large a quantity as a health food often store can. Sometimes you’ll get a better deal on the organic stuff by shopping somewhere that gets a large supply.

5. Make simple substitutions to your recipes to accommodate seasonal items.

If you wanted strawberries for example, but it’s winter, get some pears or apples and get creative.

It is always healthier for our bodies to eat the seasonal food – as the nutrient content is much higher.

6. Speaking of higher nutrient content, I do recommend you buy organic eggs.

Organic eggs contain much more absorbable nutrients, they’ll minimize your exposure to antibiotics, synthetic hormones and pesticides – as well as delivering more protein. I get the extra large.

• Read Whole Eggs or Just Egg Whites

7. Buy some items frozen.

While getting fresh is awesome if you have the funds, there are always benefits to buying frozen. I often find great deals on wild-caught frozen fish, and of course the nice thing about frozen is that it’s definitely not going to go bad if you don’t have time to cook it right away.

This is especially true for greens and fruit, which make a great addition to smoothies and can easily go bad when purchased fresh.

8. Buy specialty items like nuts and grains in bulk when possible.

Sometimes going to a health food store that has a bulk section will really save you money by taking advantage of this feature.

You can also get great deals on flour, seeds, rice, honey, nut butter and dried fruit by buying these things in bulk, reusing your containers, and following your plan for the week.

9. Set aside time to prep some of the food you bought when you get home.

This keeps you on point, and ensures nothing goes to waste. I choose entrees, staple carbs and usually one easy snack.

While I sometimes do prep as I go through the week, I often try to prep at least 2 staple carbs, 1-2 protein or entree dishes, and at least one snack. This saves me a lot of time later and ensures I’m making the most of my savings by not skipping that food in my fridge!

10. Never shop when you’re hungry

I bet this is a no-brainer to you, but it happens sometimes. I always make a point of getting something I can eat at the store before I shop, if I get there hungry.

Shopping while I’m anxious always throws me off my game. As long as I’m not hungry, my favorite thing to do is get (or bring from home) a foamy almond latte (with a sprinkle of cinnamon) and walk around sipping it.

For some reason, it makes grocery shopping feel like less of a chore, and more of something special and fun – as it should!

What are YOUR best money-saving strategies when it comes to food? And what items do you always insist on buying organic?

So there you have it – having a plan to follow helps me stay on point while I’m grocery shopping and save money, helps me stay balanced with my meals all week, helps me save money NOT going out to eat every day, and allows me to see the direct results on my body – in how it looks and feels.

Looking for some help making healthy eating easy?

Take the quiz and find out your eating type!

The post 10 Ways to Save Money on Quality Food on a Budget appeared first on The Betty Rocker.

I love going out to eat!! But it sometimes can feel challenging when I’m being conscious of my intake.

I thought I’d share a couple strategies I use about how I keep it clean when I’m out since I get a lot of emails and questions about it.

I call it “Menu Surfing”  and I invite you to try it!

Menu Surfing means you don’t always look for a pre-made dish that works for you, as we almost always have to compromise somewhere.

Menu Surfing is scanning the menu looking for ingredients that fit our particular style of eating, and in the most polite way possible, creating a dish that fits our needs.

• Always build your meal around your protein.
• Scan the menu for ingredients that meet your own preferences (ie vegan, vegetarian, paleo, dairy free etc) and choose a good protein option for you.
• Ask how it is prepared if it’s not clear (to avoid a steak drenched in butter – its happened!) Today I ordered salmon, another friend who is vegetarian ordered eggs.
• Next, find your greens or veggies. I opted for a mixed baby greens (NOT lettuce – there are virtually no nutrients in lettuce – the darker green the better) – I could have also gotten a side of whatever vegetables were on the menu.
• Next, get a good whole food carbohydrate option (especially at breakfast/lunch – that’s when I normally eat most of my carbs as I tend to work out in the morning) I had apples on my salad, and had a side of sweet potatoes, my friend ordered a gluten-free toast (yes we were lucky to eat somewhere that was an option).
• Don’t add extra, unnecessary sugar to your body by drinking it, or pouring it on in sauces. Stick to clean beverages like water, tea, and black coffee – espresso, Americano etc.

Sometimes, you should ignore all of these ideas and have a truly gourmet experience but if you are out and wanting to stick to your clean eating, I hope these ideas help you!

What do you order when you’re out to eat?

Let me help you make eating healthy easy with the Body Fuel System.

• Real food – and a setup that suits YOUR lifestyle.
• Enjoy Betty Rocker gluten and dairy free whole food recipes that are EASY to make, and even easier to eat.
• Enjoy the done-for-you 6-weeks of daily menus that you can follow exactly, or use as a guideline and reference point.
• Get weekly set up steps, customized to your preference: batch prepping for the week, taking shortcuts, or doing a little bit of both.

The post Menu Surfing: Ordering Out 101 for Any Diet appeared first on The Betty Rocker.

“Failing to plan is planning to fail.”

When I created the Body Fuel System, it was in response to some of the biggest obstacles I personally faced when trying to stick to healthy eating habits successfully and consistently.

Even when I knew what healthy foods combined well and I had great recipes to make them tasty and interesting, two of my biggest challenges were:

1: Having the right good foods readily available – even when I was short on time

2: Having enough variety to feel like I looked forward to my meals, but not so much variety I was overspending on groceries to make complicated recipes all the time.

The BEST way I found to ensure my own success was to set myself up for this in advance.

This required a little thoughtful planning and thinking, prior to the shopping and cooking. This is the part where you really can save money, and achieve your goals of strength, vibrancy and health – but it does take work and advanced planning.

With my food prep, I came up with 3 main strategies or “types” to meet the changing needs of a busy schedule. While some weeks I was really keen on doing one main prep session (BATCH), other weeks I was traveling more for work, or just unable to cook much (MINIMAL). And sometimes I was in between. I had time to cook some staple recipes, but also wanted to cook a bit daily, throughout the week (HYBRID).

Here’s my 5-Step Food Prep and Recipes Guide

These 3 strategies all relied on my understanding first and foremost of the nutrients my body needs to thrive, and my determination to have them come from whole, natural foods as much as possible. On the truly busy weeks, I was ok with taking some shortcuts, but these were always with a focus on the nutrients (protein, carbohydrates, fats and greens/veggies) that they contained.

Creating a Daily Photo Food Journal

One really helpful tool you can use to help keep yourself accountable for what you eat daily is to use a “photo food journal.” To do this, just take a photo of every meal you eat throughout the day. You can use a photo collage tool to make a record of your day’s eating, and post it on your social media to stay accountable.

As an alternative to just writing it down, the act of stopping and taking a picture has helped me stay accountable for what I’m taking in. You may find that tracking your macros, or keeping track of your food some other way works best for you – but this is a fun way to have a visual representation of what you’ve done.

Here are a couple examples of Daily Food Journals I have made:

Food Journal #1:

This was on a day I was training hard, and also had more food prepped and available (it was a BATCH PREP week).

1. Overnight oatmeal with 2 T pecans, 1 T currants and 3 T hemp seeds
2. Post workout Green Smoothie with vanilla protein
3. Lunch (aka Second breakfast): 2 eggs, 1/3 cup egg whites, 1 slice gluten-free toast with butter, steamed bok choy
4. Small protein shake
5. Dinner: turkey burger, 1/2 cup quinoa, 1/2 avocado, shallot slices and cucumber “bun”.
(The little pic is a sample of my food prep)

Food Journal #2

This journal’s intake was a lot of leftovers and pre-grocery shopping food, but still a well balanced (though non traditional day – which is just fine):

1. Overnight oatmeal with hemp seeds, walnuts, raisins and cinnamon
2. Gluten free toast, butter, eggs and egg whites, sautéed chard, spinach and garlic
3. Sashimi, avocado, vegetable rolls from Whole Foods when I was there mid-day buying groceries (knowing I had to take a photo of whatever I ate kept me on point with my choices!).
4. Leftover chocolate protein pancakes, bacon and banana.
5. Power bowl: hemp seeds, unsweetened coconut flakes, walnuts, dark chocolate pieces, raisins – it IS a good idea to have a couple healthy snack ideas.

If you’d like me to set you up with a complete 6 week done-for-you meal plan and eating guide, complete with healthy recipes (gluten and dairy free, with vegetarian options) with options for ALL 3 eating styles every week (BATCH, MINIMAL and HYBRID) look no further than….

My amazing BODY FUEL SYSTEM!

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It’s almost never the case that you can simply swap one of the below flours for wheat or glutenous flour in a recipe, because gluten is the very thing that binds foods like bread, pie crust and other baked goodies together.

But with a little finesse and willingness to experiment (usually with smaller recipes so you don’t waste if it doesn’t go as hoped) you can combine a couple or a few of the ones below to get the texture, flavor, balance and consistency that’s just right.

Of course there are more – and if you’ve used one I haven’t mentioned, please leave me a comment and let me know your experience with it. I’d love to check it out!

Almond Meal Flour: I’ve had good luck using just almond meal flour in cookie and muffin recipes that had a lot of binders like egg and oil. I’ve also used it as part of a mix of other flours, as it adds a lovely moistness and a light almond flavor. Most almond meal is made from blanched almonds, which is what gives it its pale yellow color. In a pinch, you can make your own by blending almonds in the blender or food processor.

Arrowroot Powder(may also be labeled arrowroot starch, or arrowroot flour): I use arrowroot powder in place of cornstarch frequently. It is a tasteless thickening agent that works well in soups, sauces and puddings. Overheating can cause it to lose some of its binding properties, so for best results add it closer to just before boiling.

Brown Rice Flour: Brown rice flour is a great flour to mix in with other flours like teff, buckwheat or sorghum (see white rice flour below – different qualities than B.R.F.).

Brown Rice Flour – Superfine: Basically brown rice flour that’s been double milled to give it a silky-smooth texture, this flour may be hard to locate in stores. You can find it online though. It actually does a great job of emulating wheat flour – even better than sorghum or buckwheat. You’ll most likely want to add a binder (like xantham gum) to recipes like sugar cookies or other recipes where the texture is paramount.

Buckwheat Flour: Native to Asia, this distinctive-tasting flour is commonly used to make things like crepes, soba noodles and pancakes. It adds a wonderful texture to muffins and cakes as well, though you will want to acquaint yourself with its flavor before adding too liberally. For best results in gluten-free baking, mix your buckwheat flour with a starchier flour like cornstarch or tapioca flour for a good roll-out dough.

Chickpea Flour (also known as besan, garfava flour or garbanzo bean flour): chickpea flour gives a wonderful texture to gluten-free baked goods like muffins, pancakes and cookies, and works much like sorghum or buckwheat. It’s traditionally used in foods like falafel, pakoras and boodi. Because it’s a bean, the flour does have a distinctive odor which becomes fairly unnoticable when cooked with other ingredients. If you have trouble finding it, you can make your own from dried chickpeas (not canned – they’re already cooked) – and grinding them in your food processor or coffee grinder.

Coconut Flour: Incredibly absorbent, this is not a flour you can substitute for wheat (or any other flour) in the same quantity by any means. I’ve added merely 3 T to a muffin recipe and gotten the same result I would have had in an entire cup of wheat flour. Coconut flour has a lovely natural sweetness and wonderful texture, and is high in fiber and low in carbohydrates.

Corn Starch:  Cornstarch is a thickening agent that works well in soups, stews and sauces and can be used like tapioca flour (to add starch) to other recipes. It is usually combined with equal parts water (forming a “slurry”) to dissolve before adding, so it doesn’t clump. This is one to check for the “gluten free label, as some facilities that make cornstarch also process other gluten-containing grains and foods. You will not have great results if you combine cornstarch with acidic liquids (such as lemon juice). If you’re freezing your leftovers, opt for arrowroot in place of cornstarch, as it holds up better in the freezer.

Flaxseed Meal: With plenty of antioxidants, omega 3’s and 6’s, flaxseed meal (ground flaxseed) has a distinctive nutty flavor and is best in baking when added as an additional flour, rather than the main feature. More a binder than a flour, mixing 1 T of flaxseed with 3 T water can replace an egg. I add flaxseed meal to pancakes, bread, muffins and even my green smoothies to boost their nutritional content. I store mine in the freezer to retain its nutrients.

Millet Flour: A tiny seed-like grain, millet can be white, grey, yellow or red. Millet flour is most often made from the yellow variety, and makes a slightly dry flour. It works well when mixed with heartier flours like teff, hemp or almond meal. I most recently used it in a pie crust recipe, where it was called for in equal parts to almond meal, potato starch and tapioca flour. I’ve made my own before when I couldn’t find it pre-ground by simply grinding millet in my high-speed blender.

Oat Flour: With all the nutritional benefits of oats, oat flour is a good addition to baked goodies and works a lot like sorghum flour. It may be slightly denser, like a wheat flour but it is extremely versatile and moderate in flavor. Be sure to look for a “gluten free” label on this product.

Potato Starch (potato flour): Powdery fine, and with a similar texture to tapioca flour, potato starch has been used by the food processing industry for years as a general thickener, binder, texturizer, anti-caking, or gelling agent. It works like cornstarch in thickening gravies, sauces, soups and stews. It also works well in gluten free baking, and can be worked into a dough (like a pie crust) like flour.

Sorghum Flour: A staple grain in Africa, sorghum has been studied for its numerous health benefits (phytochemicals that may help manage cholesterol, antioxidants and phenols that may improve diabetes and insulin resistance). It is a great substitute for wheat flour in many recipes especially when combined with more dense flours at about 15-20%.

Sweet White Rice Flour: Made from starchy, short-grain white rice, this flour is traditionally used in Asian cooking to thicken sauces or added to desserts. It will add moisture and density – not the best when used alone, unless a sticky result is desired.

Tapioca Flour: Made from the root of the tropical cassava plant, this pure starch works as a thickening agent in sauces (and freezes well). It can also be used successfully with other, more dense flours in baking like brown rice, sorghum, millet, and buckwheat. It is sometimes easier to find tapioca pearls than tapioca flour, and they can simply be ground in your high-speed blender to make tapioca flour.

Teff Flour: One of my personal favorites, teff is the smallest grain in the world and is remarkably high in protein. You can grind your own in the blender/food processor. It works well in a variety of recipes, and has a nice nutty flavor.

In traditional baking, the gluten protein coagulates ingredients, binds and thickens doughs and batters, traps air bubbles, and makes baked goods light and fluffy. Guar gum and xantham gum both serve to coagulate, or bind batters and doughs together in gluten-free baking – but xanthan gum primarily help starches combine to trap air, and guar gum helps keep large particles suspended in the mix. See below for a handy chart from Bob’s Red Mill for how to gauge amounts of each.

Guar Gum: Made from a tropical Asian seed, guar gum works best in cold foods like ice cream or pastry fillings. Foods with high acidity (like citrus) may cause guar gum to lose its binding properties (use xantham gum for better result in those types of recipes).

Xantham Gum:  Made by a micro organism called Xanthomonas Camestris, xantham gum works best in baked goods and yeasted breads. Its ability to keep oils from separating is why you’ll often find it on food labels. Be careful when working with it, as it leaves an extremely slimey residue on everything it touches.

**Also of note: I store all of my flours in the refrigerator (some in the freezer) to retain their freshness and nutrition content.

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