Fall and Festive Fitness Challenge

Fall colours are coming to an end. Here is an iphone dump of some of the fall I captured during the Thanksgiving weekend.

Mom always has the house decked out for holidays, Thanksgiving being no exception. 

This was our Thankfulness Tree.

Typical college student response. 

Mine was a no-brainer.

Nothing beats the colours of Fall... NOTHING! However, end of Fall colours means one thing in my books, Festive Fitness Challenge!!! Thats right folks it is here.

Festive Fitness Challenge

(aka "getting skinny for Santa")

Who can join?

Anyone and everyone! The more the merrier.

What is it?

1.) Change something in your diet.
eg: No eating after dinner, adding snacks during the day, giving up soft drinks... etc. 

2.) Do something active 3 times a week for at least 30 minutes.
Some people may already be doing this and may want to increase to five times/week or pick a new activity like Zumba or swimming. 

When is it?

Nov 1 - Dec 15th
We always start the night after Halloween. Get your last fill of candy and then set your sights on better health.  

Why do we do this? Six years ago it dawned on me that everyone has something they want to change about their health: be it their lifestyle, their fitness or their eating habits. This made me wonder... what stops them? I think the number one answer is motivation! We live in a society of distractions. We may recognize we need a change, however, life gets in the way and we often say "I'll start tomorrow." The problem is tomorrow seems to turn into the next day and the next day and so on. The solution? Well there is no easy solution and if I knew the solution I would probably be filthy rich. So each year we get together for just over a month before Christmas and make purposeful changes to our diet and lifestyles. Changes can be small or big, depending on what you feel up for. 

How?
1.) Sign up by liking this page Festive Fitness Challenge. I would love it if you would post what you will be giving up on Facebook so that we can encourage eachother. 
2.) Write down your goals and put them on your fridge, bathroom mirror, or kitchen cupboard, somewhere you will see them everyday. 
3.) Get friends and family to either join with you or support you in your challenge. Try to have other people you see on a daily basis join with you. Being accountable increases your chances of success in making a lifestyle change. It is hard to keep self control when your partner, friends or family are munching away on goodies beside you. 

I will try to keep posting health tips and recipes throughout the challenge. If there is anything you want me to write about just let me know. 

4 DAYS to start day!!! Here we go. 

High Protein Snack Bread

Entering my third trimester has brought on more changes in my body. My belly is growing, the baby is kicking harder and I can barely fit anything in my stomach before feeling full. Now that the baby lives in a "pouch" that comes up to about 2 inches above my belly button there isn't much room left for my stomach to expand; not to mention the pregnancy hormones slowing down my digestion. Because of this I find myself needing to snack often. I like to keep these snacks as healthy as possible. One of my new favourites is this protein/nutrient packed bread I found here.

This bread is packed with nutrient rich seeds and nuts! What are these nutrients you ask? Well... 

Raw peptia seeds: Beneficial unsaturated fats and the amino acids tryptophan and glutamate. Tryptophan is nature's natural sleeping pill. Turkey is also high in this amino acid, which contributes to the yearly "turkey tireds". These seeds also contain vitamin E, a natural antioxidant. 

Sesame seeds:  High in oleic acid (which helps decrease LDL cholesterol),  high in natural antioxidants, and high in folic acid, an essential vitamin for pregnancy.   

Sunflower seeds: High in linoleic acid and oleic acid, high in natural antioxidants, and vitamin E. 

Almonds: Like the above nuts, almonds are high in oleic acids and vitamin E. 

All of the above seeds and nuts are also packed with B-vitamins and essential minerals. Although high in fat and therefore calories, nuts, in moderation, are a good addition to any diet. 

Baking this bread made such a sweet smell in my kitchen I could barely wait for it to come out of the oven.

While the bread was cooling I made a cup of chai apple tea.

I topped mine with honey and Chia seed for a sweet and nutty afternoon snack. I am so glad I came across this recipe. I highly suggest you make it yourself! If you are looking for reasonably priced almond butter, try Costco.
Enjoy!

Recent Eats

Fall has returned and I have had time/motivation to be back in the kitchen. Andrew is back at school and we are into a routine. I have been trying a lot of new things to help decide what to fill my freezer with before baby Ethier gets here! I thought I would quickly share some of my favourite finds.

Both of these muffin recipes are from the same sight. Both are gluten free, dairy free. They both use coconut flour, a recent addition to my pantry, which I have been loving. Blueberry muffin link here.  Lemon poppy seed recipe here.

This was a dinner we had recently. We had leftover chicken and some veggies to use up. I made Andrew's pizza on a normal crust and mine on a cauliflower crust. I have seen people using cauliflower for pizza crust for a while now and figured I should give it a try. Many recipes call for cheese to help hold the crust together, which is no good for me. I found this one. It uses flax eggs.

Last, but definitely not least homemade pasta sauce. This fall, our garden exploded with tomatoes. What was a girl to do other than make some spaghetti sauce for her hubby. I used this recipe and the results were fantastic! I have now made a second batch and stashed it in my freezer. 

Now off to enjoy one of my new fall teas... oh I love this season.