Healthy Spotlight: Almonds

Hey guys!

I recently found a new love. Almonds. They are super nice and I find that they are a great snack to keep you going mid morning or mid evening. I like to eat them raw, just because, to me, they taste better. You can eat them toasted also. I like to steel cut them and then toast them to accompany my yoghurt and a banana. 

Ever since I started eating them I started to do some research and found out that they carry a lot of proteins and good fats that help you loose weight eating them the right way. You can eat 20-25 almonds a day because that is the optimum amount of proteins and oils that are going to be good for you, lets say 5-8 grams of proteins  are contained in each almond, so adding up they make you feel full and not starve till your next meal. 

Vegans are all nuts about almonds, they love almond milk which is a really good substitute of regular milk and even has almost the same amount of proteins milk has. As you can see, almonds have really beneficial  characteristics and components in them that will make you feel good. 

So what are you waiting for?! grab those almonds for a snack and start feeling the effect!

I hope you enjoyed this small post as much as I did writing it and sharing with you my new found love and the benefits it has for your health. ;)

xo, 

S.A 

Meal Diary: Monday 22/08/2011

Hey guys!

I hope you liked the second part of the working out clothes, and if you haven't read it click here to check it out, and now I am in the mood to fill you in with the food I've ingested today (wow, that felt so scientific) so that you have an idea on what I am having for meals. I have Mondays free because I am not ready to give up the weekend just like that, I know, lazy me! haha but it feels good cause I can catch up with the readings and some homework and also can write posts for both of my blogs! :)

And now, my day meals:

Breakfast: 

• A Mandarin


• Cup of Black Coffee


• Sunflower cookies

Lunch:  

• Tuna Soup 


• 2 Potato Slices

Dinner: 

• A mandarin 


• A cup of Coffee 


• one slice of toasted whole-wheat bread

So here you go guys! this is my meal diary from today!

Hope you guys are enjoying your day! 

xo, 

S.A 

Sunday: Brunch and Pastas

Hey guys! 


Today I had brunch and it actually was more of lunch than anything else. 

They served a pasta with lemon chicken which was so good that i had to get the recipe from the chef, she was kind enough to come and talk to me about the secret of this pasta (the credit goes to my lovely aunt) and therefore I got it and now i can make it at home! i would change some of the things to make it a lot more healthy. 

Here is my version of it: 


Ingredients: 


1) 1/2 kg of whole-grain pasta
2) 2 lemons (green lemon for it to be more sour) 
3) 1 spoon of ground garlic
4) 1 seasoning envelope
5) Salt
6) Pepper
7) Half a chicken breast
8) Milk 
9) Olive oil


Preparation: 


1) Boil the whole-grain pasta with some salt, no oil. 
2) cut the chicken breast, previously remove the skin, in small squares. 
3) Pour just a little of olive oil in a pan, let it heat and then fry the ground garlic to let the flavour become more noticeable. 
4) Add and fry the chicken breast with some salt and pepper and the seasoning envelope together. 
5) Add a cup of milk to the chicken and mix well, if you like it to be a little more consistent just dissolve in a cup with a small amount of water one spoon of flour and then add that to the milk while boiling. 
6) Finally add the juice of the 2 lemons. Don't worry of the mixture starts separating, it is normal, just mix well. 


For the final serving put the pasta in a plate, and spread the just made cream with the chicken. 


I assure you that it is amazing and fills you the right way. 


(i wish i had taken a picture of my plate!) 


hope you enjoy it and if you try it, tell me what your thoughts are! 


xo,


S.A


picture is from: the foodnetwork.com

Friday: Update

Hey Guys! it's been too long I think!


I have been really enjoying my vacations and reading a good amount of books, and I really missed writing blog posts.


On Tuesday was my granddad's birthday and we decided it was going to be a holiday for every member of our family so that we can spend a nice day together. He had been working on an invention of his to make roasted chicken and you know what? it is AMAZING. So we had a pretty nice feast. We sided the dish with a salad and with baked potatoes with Huancaina Sauce. We are somewhat lovers of wine and a glass is never missing.


I took a lot of pictures so that you can watch it. What i like the most of this is that you don't need the use of oils or anything else and it is super healthy. You have to season the chicken first and then just  let it sit for one night and it will make all the meat be impregnated with the taste.


This is what it looks like when you first see it in the grill.

And then we had a beautiful night and sung happy birthday to my "papi" (that's what i call him) and eat cookie cake :) it was so yummy. 

here is a picture of the evening :) 

what a happy Family We are :)


So if you want to spend a nice evening with your family, declare yourselves a little family holiday and do a BBQ and it will make a lot of health benefits for you all. So spend a day out in the back yard and soak in some fresh air and a yummy tasting food right out of the grill. Specially if it's a summer day, which in most of the other hemisphere of the world is, it is going to make you fell much more active and full of life and even happier.


tell me if you enjoy having family time and if so, how to spend it?


xo,


S.A

Thursday: Meal Diary + update

Hey Guys!

I am finally done with my final exams and i am so happy about it! it has been a long couple of weeks and i now feel the relief and ecstatic about it.

It's been a crazy week and as I told before in this blog, i tend to eat a lot when i am anxious or stressed, so i found great healthy snacks to munch on while studying. Click here if you want to see those snack ideas and maybe try them! they are way better than those fatty and fried chips and endless types of stuff.

My meal diary so far has been like follows:

Monday:

      Breakfast:

• Bowl of cereal with milk and just one teaspoon of sugar 
• An apple 
• Orange juice

     Lunch: 

• Turkey with lemon sauce and steamed veggies

     Dinner: 

• Cup of coffee 
• Water crackers. 

Tuesday: 

     Breakfast:

• Slice of toasted bread.
• cup of coffee 
• an orange

     Lunch: 

• Criollo Beans (nice Peruvian recipe) 
• Rice

     Dinner: 

• Cup of coffee 
• Crackers

Wednesday: 

it actually has been the same for breakfast and dinner as Tuesday and for lunch i had Pasta with some steamed veggies and olive oil.

So that has been so far what i have ingested for meals. I think that balancing out what you eat is better so you don't deprive your appetite so when you are facing temptation you will eat like there's no tomorrow and then feel guilty about it. 

I hope you guys have a great Thursday and remember that eating healthy doesn't mean not eating at all 

xo, 

S.A

Final Exams: Healthy Snack options.

Hey Guys! 


My birthday is this Sunday and i am so exited but also not so much. I am turning 20! this is a big deal, at least for me because i am not going to be a teen anymore! and i think from 20 and up people just start to notice more what you say and do. 20 is a more "mature" number. 


This week i am in final exams and i finish on Wednesday. I think that when I start this time of the semester i start eating more, and maybe it's because i get more anxious because of all the study i have to do. And mental work is a very draining and tiring. 


So what i like to eat while i have these sessions is pop corn with almost no salt and having something to munch on while reading is the best so that you also have that extra energy needed to focus on the topics you are looking at. 
Another food that i like to eat is apples, or any fruit actually, but i like the most apples so that i get those vitamins to  keep me awake and not sleepy. 





Tuna is a good option to have with some crackers because it has Omega 3 and 6 that is really good for your brain to keep going and creating synapses between your neurons. Synapses are the connections that your brain creates when learning new things and experiences all the time. So tuna will help you a lot to get extra strength in your brain. Actually any fish can do the job but canned tuna is really good if you want a snack that wont take that much of your study time. 

I hope you guys liked this post and hope to be helpful!


love, 


S.A 

Friday: Almond Chicken

Hey Everyone! 


I was reading Elle and Blair's Fowler site and found an amazing recipe of Almond chicken that they have found in the Eatingwell.com site. So i decided today was the day i was going to try this recipe and see if it is as good as it sounds and looks like. 


During the weekend I went grocery shopping and bought my almonds, which i really love so i am pretty sure i will enjoy this meal a LOT, and all the other ingredients they said you needed and stashed them for today, it's Friday after all and is the end of the week!. I am going to follow some of the changes they made in Elle and Blair's site because i find them to be healthier options and practical tips. 


Tomorrow I will be posting some pictures and I am going to give my opinion about this. 

I hope you all have a great day and try some new recipes ! If you have one and love it please don't hesitate on sharing it with us in the comments below! and I am sure that i will be trying it and who knows, maybe writing a blog post about it! 


Have an awesome Friday my loves


xo,


S.A

Meal Diary: Monday&Tuesday

Hey Everyone!

So I have been eating really good lately and specially i had no idea that i was good at cooking!

Making these meals have made me realize the importance that a perfect balance makes and to know how to mix the things you eat. 

For the past days, Monday and Tuesday, i ate:

Monday:

• Breakfast: a bowl of special K with milk
• Lunch: A chicken filled in with asparagus and Edam cheese. with steamed vegies and just a little ampunt of rice. 
• Dinner: an orange and half a banana 

Tuesday: 

• Breakfast: A bowl of special K with milk (it's my go to breakfast, and it is easy and healthy)
• Lunch: A chicken kind of soup with potatoes and raisins and carrots and a little rice by the side. (here in Peru we have to have rice as our side dish, we are characterized by that.)
• Dinner: A bowl of oatmeal and an orange. 

These are all the things that have gotten into my tummy and i feel really happy about it. It's not too much food and it is well balanced in order not to lack of anything. 

I cooked the first dish on monday, lunch. and i think it was pretty awesome that i can actually cook! this is a big deal! now i can live alone and not starve! hahaha 

such a drama lady. 

I will attach a picture when i download them to my computer. 

So what have you been eating? tell me about it in the comments below :) 

love,

S.A

Healthy Spotlight: Healthy Eating and top 10 foods to improve your diet!

Hi everyone


i was searching the internet and kind of stumbled upon an amazing site that shows how to balance your food and making it fresh ans not boring at all. http://www.healthyfoodtips.org/ shows how to plan a meal and which foods to combine in order to take a full vitalizing and vitamin intake of good foods. They help to keep your body free of bad stuff such as saturated fats that, if consumed too much, can fill your arteries and block them with the grease and cause heart attacks, embolisms and more. 


It is a good thing that more people are being aware of what they eat so that the obesity is taken over with healthy choices and the life expectancy is longer. 


Now i also found a good site that talks about the 10 healthiest foods in the world and I was amazed with it and realized that we sometimes just don't know the benefits a banana has or a kiwi, which are really good.  
http://www.livestrong.com/article/89515-healthiest-foods/ It is a study from the Lance Armstrong Organization LIVESTRONG. 


I hope you guys find this information useful and feel free to send me your comments and how you take healthy food habits in your life. 


XO, 
A




* I am not affiliated to any of the sites mentioned in this blog nor received an economic compensation to talk about them or show their content. 

I am Back!

Hello everybody! 

sorry i've been slacking this blog, but as you may already know, i am study hard to improve my grades, make my diet healthier, keep up with the school work that is getting bigger and bigger and bigger all the time, and my final exams are just around the corner so yes, my time has pretty much been reduced for leisure activities, so i decided that i was going to leave everything for about 5 mins in order to write a blog and keep you updated. 

I have lost body mass, and that is noticeable, but in weight i have just loosed about 1/2 a pound which is good because i am not loosing weight dramatically and my metabolism is not suffering with the changes. I have reduced my intake of fried and greasy food, although i still eat a hamburger if i am totally craving one, but just a small or junior one. 

Now i drink 2 lts. of water a day and i feel my skin softer and more hydrated than before, so the changes are good and it shows on the way i look, i like it, a healthy living and a healthy body. 

In terms of exercise, i have been walking a lot lately, climbing up and down stair cases at university and i have clases on the fourth floor and instead of using the elevator i prefere the stairs it's a pretty good exercise cause you work everything, your thighs, your calves, even your butex :) 

You know that i am a sweet addict, so the desserts for me are a must, but I tend to have left them behind and just eat them 2 times a week, when i am really really really craving one. The rest of the time i am not worried about it, and because of my hectic schedule i sometime have a little time to eat lunch and if i took all the time i wished i would never get on time to where i need to be. 

let me know you have been working on your health and how have you make the transition smoother so that it doesn't strike you down.  

New Diet, new life style

Hello everyone! this is my first entry in this blog. With it i am going to try to make my way through the process of losing weight at lot easier because i need some support and with it i hope everyone gets inspired and follow my footsteps into a healthier life style. 

Here is an intro to what I am like dieting wise. I have a super sweet tooth that i need to control. literally i love all about sweets and candies and all that GOOD stuff i love the cupcakes, lolli pops, cakes, flans, pudin and oh god, just talking about it makes my mouth water. Also I love good food, and all food really, I live in Peru so it is normal for us peruvians to appreciate our cuisine and eat it right with rice and potatoes even though you shouldn't mix them both. Another thing you should know is that i am LAZY so lazy that the song by Bruno Mars seems so active! so working out is not an option for me, at least those long and tiring hours at the gym. I am a University student and my time is partially limited and my energy is all drained by long hours of study and moving from one place to another, so that is part a workout for me.  

Now, on to the hard business, dieting. I have opted to reduce my consumption of bread, cut completely the fried stuff because it is so not healthy and it goes into the fat of your body more quickly. I can not live without any sweets so i am going to allow myself have just one small piece of anything sweet to satisfy my sweet cravings, Also include vegetables to the diet because the green in them help to burn out some of the extra calories you intake when you eat not so healthy food. you should never cut out everything because if you go to eat one day and are just not in the mood to eat just "plants" it's not going to harm your diet that much if you were eating everything but just in small portions. 

This is a long way to walk but i am going to do my best to keep it up! 





Wish me luck and i hope you get inspired! 


xo A