Healthy Foods: Hot and Spicy

Are you one of those individuals that loves spicy foods? Well, I am! Not only does it add flavor with very little calories or sodium, but a lot of spices have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Chili peppers have been observed to enhance fat burning capacity and lower blood pressure. There are so many healthy recipes for spicy foods, but I'd like to share one of my favorites, which is Beef and Bean Chile Verde. This meal can be easily prepared by a slow cooked stew of pork, some ground beef, and beans. Then adding tomatillos, and jalapenos. If you decide to try it out, which I highly encourage you to do, make sure you add some fresh cilantro to it, a sprinkle of cheese, and some of your favorite hot sauce!

Healthy Breakfast Ideas

Eating healthy has become less of a priority for people, but I would consider switching over to a healthier lifestyle. Breakfast being one of the most important meals of the day, you don't want to skip it. Skipping any meals will make you more hungry later on and can lead to over eating. One healthy breakfast idea is a breakfast parfait including little low-fat dairy and some vitamin-rich fruit. That is a nice healthy start to your day giving you plenty of nutrition. I encourage you to try this out!

Vegetarian Meal Plan To Get Complete Proteins

As a vegetarian you want to make sure you get all the protein you need, which for women you need 45-65 grams of protein a day. Animal proteins are complete, including eggs, seafood, dairy, and red meat, so what do vegetarians do? well, there are a few nonanimal sources that offer complete proteins, so it is very important that you get your serving of soybeans, blue-green algae, hempseed, buckwheat, and quinoa, if your diet happens to be meat, milk, or egg free. There is a way to make a complete protein, simply by putting two incomplete proteins together in one meal, or throughout the whole say even. For example, split pea soup with whole grain bread, or black bean soup for lunch and brown rice with dinner. If you are planning a vegetarian meal plan, this is how I would start it off.


Day 1:


BREAKFAST- 1 cup of strawberries, skim milk, whole wheat toast
LUNCH- leek, asparagus&herb soup, rice and corn cakes with spicy black beans, on whole orange
SNACK- apple, skim milk
DINNER- no bake macaroni and cheese, cool zucchini slaw, roasted peaches


Day 2:


BREAKFAST- skim milk (8oz), 1 cup of strawberries
LUNCH- red lentil soup with a spicy sizzle, wasa crisp bread, 1 small nectarine, 1 cup of skim milk
SNACK- 1 cup of carrot sticks, black bean dip
DINNER-  pasta with parsley walnut pesto, mixed greens, creamy blue cheese dressing, seared polenta with chunky blueberry sauce


Day 3:


BREAKFAST- Banana berry smoothie, 1 slice of whole wheat toast, roasted apple butter
LUNCH- 1 cup of skim milk, 1 cup of apricots, fragrant chick pea soup
SNACK- 1 cup of low-fat vanilla yogurt, homemade trail mix
DINNER- Roasted vegetable and feta sandwich, 1/2 cup cubes of melon, banana cake with coconut cream frosting

Passion Blog

When I see people eating fast food on the daily, I can't help but wonder why they do that to their body. One reason that fast food is horrible, is because they put the animals through cruel living to get the product, and to prevent them from getting sick from those conditions they pump them full of antibiotics which often end up in our food. I bet people wonder what exactly chicken nuggets, or chicken products in general our made out of. Well, they contain a chemical preservative called tertiary butylhydroquinone, which is derived from petroleum. Yes, the stuff you put in your car. I suggest you don't do harm to your body with all these scraps that would naturally go to waste, but instead go in some of your favorite meals. Obesity is also a big part of why people shouldn't live off fast food. Fast food is not the cause of obesity in America, but it's not helping the issue either. More than 16% of children in America are obese. As a result of many lawsuits, a high number of fast food restaurants are required to offer apple slices and milk with their kids meals. I hope I've made you think twice about going to buy a couple burgers or nuggets, because you don't know what your eating. It's time for America to back off the Mickey D's.