It’s no secret that we are working on living healthier. From clean eating to more family fitness, we are doing all we can to move forward and give our family a healthy new start.

This month has been particularly busy with house hunting, a blogging conference coming up this weekend (SNAP! Yay!), and planning for our trip to Disney World next month. When a family member mentioned a book that was working wonders for them and their weight loss, I cheered for them, but left it at that.

A month later, they had reached awesome weight loss goals and I decided I better give this book a second look! The book is The Fast Metabolism Diet: Eat More Food and Lose More Weight.

Let’s be honest, I am wary of the word “diet” and having to eat a certain meal plan every day. I know the importance of clean eating and avoiding processed foods, but have such a hard time on a limited diet. I was immediately impressed by the variety of foods you can eat on the plan.

When I started reading The Fast Metabolism Diet, the first thing I loved was that you switch up your meal plan every few days. I get so bored of eating the same thing or same types of things every day so this was perfect for me. I also liked that the plan provides you with easy, tried and true recipes. Every single one we have tried, we have liked! I’ve posted several of the pictures on my Instgram feed and my friends have been drooling over them.

The first week was an adjustment for me – our fridge was OVERFLOWING with fruits and vegetables. But by the end of the week, that produce was completely eaten and my husband and I both had more energy. It was also nice not to have to count calories or be hungry – I still got many of the foods I loved and my body got better fuel to burn off fat. I lost 5 pounds and my husband lost 8! Along with the recommended meal plan, we drank lots of water and did one day of cardio, one day of weight lighting, and one day of stretching/yoga.

For the most part, we stuck with the recipes in the book, but during the second week, my husband came up with one of his own. We added Tropical Oatmeal into our Phase 3 meal rotation.

The recipe is simple!

Tropical Oatmeal
Serves 1
1/4 cup steel-cut oats
1/2 cup fresh berries
1/2 cup fresh pineapple
Stevia
Ground Cinnamon

Bring 1 cup coconut milk to a boil on high and add the steel cut outs. Remove from heat and let soak-in for 5-7 minutes. Add the fresh berries, pineapple, stevia, and cinnamon to the top an enjoy! So simple! You can also soak the steel-cut oats overnight and try baking it in the oven – I am going to try that next week!

But back to the Fast Metabolism diet and the yummy recipes in the book!

The Fast Metabolism Diet divides the week into three phases:

PHASE ONE (Monday-Tuesday): Lots of carbs and fruits

This is such a yummy phase! The Strawberry French Toast recipe is one of my favorites.

PHASE TWO (Wednesday-Thursday): Lots of proteins and veggies

Phase two was the trickiest for us with so much protein and veggies, but snacks like this Stuffed Mushroom saved us!

PHASE THREE (Friday-Saturday-Sunday): All of the above, plus healthy fats and oils

This Three Egg Salad was my favorite recipe from Phase 3. So simple to make! You can find all of these recipes in The Fast Metabolism Diet book as well as the Cook Book!

Just a little disclosure, this is not a sponsored post. I bought the book on my own to try and I have loved it! The only affiliate links in this post are the ones from Amazon.com (thanks for supporting me!)

My husband and I are working on a few of our own recipes that work with each of the phases! And I was so happy to see that the author, Haylie Pomeroy, has more recipes online. You can see many of them on my Pinterest boards.

What are your favorite healthy foods to eat?

What are your favorite healthy family activities?

Linking up to NomDay Monday!

The post How I Lost 5 lbs in a Week! appeared first on KeepMovingForwardWithMe.

This month we are swapping greens into our meals thanks to Green Moms Meet and Fresh Express! From breakfast, to snack, to lunch, to dinner … I am excited to transform some of our favorite meals into healthier salads. We started our week with this delicious Tex Mex Salad! All you need is:

Fresh Express Tex Mex Salad

Fresh Express 50/50 Mix

Lake Country Asiago Cheese from Costco

Grape Tomatoes

Black Beans (drained)

Corn

Southwest Tortilla Chips

Lime for squeezing

Add all the ingredients together and enjoy! Simple, right?

Now I need to find 29 days more worth of salad swaps! Luckily, I am not alone in this endeavor. Fresh Express has made it uber easy for me and has even created an app to help me add greens to my daily meal plan.

I’ve been playing with it all morning and I love the suggestions! Once you sign in, you can select certain meals that you crave – from Chicken Alfredo to Grilled Cheese – and Fresh Express will provide you with a healthier green alternative. Know what my guilty pleasure is? Junior Bacon Cheeseburgers from Wendy’s! Clicked on it in the app and I was immediately directed to a yummy recipe! Try it here.

The app also helps you track your calories and exercise – perfect for me because I am headed to Florida in six weeks and getting in shape! Now for my favorite part, you can input the codes from your Fresh Express salad bags and they will send you valuable coupons. Win – win!

To prepare for my month of salad swaps I headed to Target to stock up on Fresh Express salads. Holy salads! I was greeted with a wall of options – more than even fit in my picture! Loved the variety from Baby Kale to Spinach to Spring mixes and more. These salads are all table ready. Fresh Express salads are thoroughly washed, rinsed, and gently dried, then sealed in patented “Keep-Crisp®” breathable bags to keep their just-picked freshness, without preservatives.

Yesterday we began our salad swap! One of my favorite ways to add veggies to breakfast is by adding them to eggs. I sauteed onions, grape tomatoes, and Fresh Express spinach before adding my eggs in to scramble. So simple and so delicious.

I’ve also been known to sneak greens into smoothies. So easy to add a handful of spinach or baby kale – especially when Fresh Express does the prewashing and drying for you!. Here is one of my favorite green smoothies – this recipe has lots of yummy mix and match options! My Berry Oatmeal Smoothie would also be delicious with some baby kale thrown in – I am excited to try it.

And if you are looking for a delicious seafood salad – check out my Grilled Tilapia Salad that can be made with Fresh Express baby kale. It is one of our family favorites!

Do I have you seeing green yet? Join in on the 30-day Salad Swap challenge and be sure to download your free app to help get you started!

Be sure to LIKE Fresh Express on Facebook to stay up to date on their latest offers! You can also follow Fresh Express on Pinterest for a plethora of salad recipes and ideas! They have a board for every month of they year – check it out!

You can stock up on your own Fresh Express salad kits with coupons available from Green Moms Meet.
I received this product for free from the sponsor of the Moms MeetSM program, May Media Group LLC, who received it directly from the manufacturer. As a Moms MeetSM blogger, I agreed to use this product and post my opinion on my blog. My opinions do not necessarily reflect the opinions of May Media Group LLC. or the manufacturer of the product.

What is your favorite salad?

How do you get greens into your family’s diet?

The post Fresh Express Tex Mex Salad + Coupons and a free app! appeared first on KeepMovingForwardWithMe.

Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day. So many yummy possibilities. Recently we’ve been trying out new smoothies. I eventually want to start juicing (just watched Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead), but a new juicer isn’t in the budget yet. Last week’s Food Network Healthy Challenge focused on breakfast and this week we are focusing on whole grains. What better way to transition than a breakfast smoothie that includes oats. I am a HUGE fan of oats and oatmeal. I became attached to it during my pregnancy when I was trying to avoid high blood pressure.

This morning we experimented with this delicious looking recipe for a Blueberry Oatmeal Super Shake from Life is Great. I was out of some of the ingredients so we substituted and added some of our own. Here is what we came up with

Berry Oatmeal Super Smoothie
(modified from Jordan MacVay)
Yields 4 cups.

• 1/2 cup ice cubes
• 2 very ripe bananas
• 4 ounces fresh blackberries
• 2 tablespoons natural peanut butter
• 1/3 cup old fashioned oats
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/4 cup coconut water

Place all the ingredients into a blender and blitz on high speed for a few minutes. Serve with optional garnish of banana slices and some frozen blueberries with a drizzle of honey.

As you can see – it was a great success! I think next time I will make sure the bananas and berries are frozen for a thicker texture. I LOVED that the smoothie contained so many ingredients that I could feel good about giving my children. The honey soothed their little coughs. The oats and peanut butter filled their tummies. And the fruits loaded them up with vitamins and minerals for the day. There aren’t huge amounts of each of the ingredients in the smoothie, but it sure beats a bowl of sugary cereal! Plus they think they are getting a treat for breakfast – can’t beat that. Here are some of the benefits:

• Calcium, from the milk
• Vitamin D
• Potassium, from the banana & coconut water
• Fiber, from the banana & blackberries & oats
• Protein, from the milk & peanut butter
• High Vitamin C, from blackberries

In addition you get all the health benefits from coconut water:

• raises metabolism
• boosts immune system
• fights viruses
• aids in digestion

I am participating in

Beauty & Bedlam’s Tasty Tuesday
Food Network’s Healthy Weekly Challenge

The post Berry Oatmeal Super Smoothie appeared first on KeepMovingForwardWithMe.