Kombucha. kevita. Sauerkraut… What do all of theses have in common???
They are all fermented foods! So the question you might be asking is… what the heck is a fermented food? Well, lets look at what good ‘ole Wikipedia has to offer for the definition:
Fermented foods are foods produced or preserved by the action of microorganisms. In this context, fermentation typically refers to the fermentation of sugar to alcohol using yeast, but other fermentation processes involve the use of bacteria such as lactobacillus, including the making of foods such as yogurt and sauerkraut.
At first glance, you might be thinking… ew…microorganisms? And I’m here to say… YES! We love microorganisms! Especially the healthy kind that do really good things for our body. I found a great blog that posted an article titled: 8 Reasons to Eat Fermented Foods. Check it out!
My slightly boring food day:
meal one: eggs and veggies
Meal two: apple almond butter
Meal three: last nights dinner
Meal 4: black coffee
Meal 5: last nights dinner and a small handful of cashews about an hour after eating and a half hour before bedtime
Today I stepped on the scale and I have lost twenty pounds! I have not weighed this little for ten years! I am down 16 inches and two pant sizes! I feel amazing. My energy has not been this good in a long time! I am able to handle stress better than ever even though the amount of stress I have is the highest it has ever been. I cannot imagine not sticking with the adjustments; it has simply become a part of my life. -Lindsay
In 3 months, I took off 17 lbs and in a total of 5 months I am down 22 lbs and 14 inches, and continuing to lose. I have dropped 2 pant sizes and a ton of inches, my body has muscle and tone where I have never seen it before. I could not have done any of this without the help of Audra and her team. -Sondra
When I learned about the Be Fit Boot Camps, I knew this was my summer to reshape my body. I carved out a slice of "me time" in the 6am hour and got busy. At the first dunking I weighed 144 lbs and was over 34% body fat. 11 weeks later at the second dunking, I weighed 132 lbs and had lost 8.8% of my body fat. I also put on 3 lbs of muscle during those 11 weeks. -Susan
I have lost over 25 lbs! My life has truly changed. People say this all the time, but I am serious! I will never go back to the poor food choices I was making, or the lack of exercise, and I have changed my lifestyle in the ways I now I was eating, and what I was doing to myself. Boot camp has really been a great new focus in my life. It's just been amazing! -Anna
Finishing up the 12 week fitness challenge with my trainer Audra Baker! I have lost a ton of weight (15 pounds!), and 11 inches off my body, and I feel like a million bucks! Whooohooooo!!!"
-Mat
Something new and different was exactly what I needed. I feel like this new form of exercise was the catalyst to break through my lack of motivation and weight loss plateau. I have added years to my life. I also have an overall sense of well being that I never experienced when I was heavier, as well as much more energy, focus and confidence. -Steve
Gemma! Just reading your journal is making me hungry! Please send over those pics and we’ll get them up on the blog! Keep up the good work, and if 3 glasses of wine is refraining, I’d love to see you refocus on cleaning it up completely for the rest of your challenge. It will make a huge difference on your blood sugar and hormonal stabilization.
I’m having problems with adding to the blog so hope this works. So, I’m on day 9 and amazed how I’m not struggling to stick to the plan. I usually invent little ways to cheat by this stage but I don’t feel deprived. That said I did have 3 glasses of wine and a teeny slice of key lime pie on Saturday night at a dinner at a friends house. It was worth it at the time but I felt awful on Sunday - think it must have thrown off my sugar. I was proud of myself though as I said no to lots of other parts of the meal and went for a long run that morning in anticipation of the wine. And 3 glasses was very restrained for me ( I know!). I’ve lost 3pm so far and have tons more energy and feel less bloated and generally lighter.
I’m really enjoying thinking up new recipes and have been photographing my creations so I’ll send them to Audra and they can hopefully be shared.
So day 9 I…
Exercised - Monday morning 6.15 bootcamp at Vasona. Tough but felt amazing afterwards.
Breakfast - supplements, cran water, flax, l-g powder with 2 eggs made into an omlette and stuffed with baby kale and a couple of tablespoons of salsa.
Lunch - 2 oz whole foods rare roast beef on top of a salad of baby kale, grated carrot, green cabbage, tomatoes from our garden with a homemade mustard and red wine vinegar dressing.
Dinner - delicious!! I took some tilapia fillets and put them on foil on a tray with very thinly sliced lemon on top and some fresh rosemary on top of that. Then sprinkled with salt and pepper and olive oil and broiled them for around 15 minutes. You can eat the caramelised lemon when it’s cooked like this. Sooooo good. I served this on a bed of egg plant ( sautéed in a tiny bit of garlic, olive oil with a generous amount of dried oregano), thinly sliced red bell pepper (sautéed with chili flakes, red wine vinegar, handful of fresh basil), griddled zucchini and roasted baby tomatoes ( slow roasted ages ago and kept in the freezer ready to throw into sauces.)
Breakfast: 5 big spoonfulls of crushed berries with spinach
Snack: 2 eggs, chicken sausage, broccolli
Lunch: NY steak, 1 avocado, lots of steamed veggies
Snack: steamed veggies, broccolli, carrots, bellpeppers with a small chunk of blue cheese (oops)
Dinner: 3 small white fish fillets steamed (can’t remember what kind), with garlic, rosemary, yellow bellpeper, onion
Caffeine: Green Tea
Exercise: Bootcamp
Looking good, Kristen….
Protein still seems pretty low here. But isn’t it fun when you are in a very conscious state to go to a party and watch how others are obsessed with food? I wonder how many people have watched me at parties when I was unconsciously devouring everything in site!!!
Live and learn…
Breakfast - 2 eggs, grilled veggies
Almonds
Lunch - salad: lettuce, veggies, chicken salad, dressing
Almonds
Snack - swordfish
Dinner - shrimp, mashed cauliflower w/ butter, broccali, green beens
Almonds
Doing l-glutamine sporadically before meals; very occasionally during day for hunger/sweet desire (can’t even call it craving0
day 9
Apple Cider Shot, check. WATER, check. Supplements, check. L-Glut, check.
Breakfast: 8 oz carrot juice (didn’t have protein pwdr with me), asparagus, 4 almonds
Lunch: Tuna w/ Dijon over mixed greens, tomato, cucumber, 1/4 avocado, oil, vinegar
Snack: Kombucha
Dinner: Lightly stir fried broccoli, mush, spinach, green beans with 2 scrambled eggs, 3 macadamia nuts
Out to a dinner party (I ate before I went): WATER, 4 olives: pretty interesting to watch others grazing around the food for several hours. I wasn’t the least bit tempted.
Biked to / from work (~7 miles), 1 hour speedy walk
breakfast: 1 scoop amazing grass w/ water
am snack: kombucha
lunch: tapas assortment of salt cod, grilled shrimp, curry almonds, olives, white turkey cubes, cauliflower (2c), anchovies (3)
pm snack: 10 nuts
dinner:
1 scoop amazing grass
2c kale, 1 can tuna fish (in water), hot sauce, sunflower seeds
breakfast: greens shake again. yes, I know it’s boring, but it’s so easy and yummy! I threw in a 1/2 cup sliced mango to sweeten it up a bit.
lunch: socca (made with chickpea flour, olive oil, water and dried herbs, a bit of Braggs
Amino Acid) topped with charred cherry tomato vinagrette (olive oil, basil, cherry tomatoes, apple cider vinegar, s&p), sauteed kale and pine nuts
snack: 1 tbs of almond butter, straight up
dinner: ratatouille (eggplant, bell pepper, tomatoes, onions, garlic, herbs) with hard boiled egg
snacks: handful of sunflower seeds and 1 orange
Hi Audra,
I didn’t see the link on the site to Days 10 or 11, and I’m confused what day I should be logging on anyway, but here is my breakdown for yesterday, Cinco de Mayo.
I had a severe energy crash around 1:30 or 2:00 in the afternoon at the office, as in, falling asleep in my chair. I sometimes get mid-afternoon lulls, but this was bad, so I thought I’d note it here. I usually drink regular green tea in the mornings, but yesterday I had decaf green tea. Other than that most things were the same, so I’m not sure why it happened.
Breakfast: 2 hard-boiled eggs (I was running out the door, so I was glad I had these pre-made!)
“Snack”: Decaf Green Tea
Lunch: Canned tuna with Dijon, carrots, and a mix of kale, chard and dandelion greens with Braggs, pistachios and cashews
Energy Crash! Black Coffee
Snack: 2 carrots, almond butter
Dinner: Ate out at a sandwich cafe, ordered a spinach salad with onions, tomatoes, and chicken (told them to hold the candied walnuts and Gorgonzola). I forgot to get the dressing on the side, and though it was a vinaigrette, I could tell there was sugar in there . That said, it tasted AMAZING.
Here is my food log for Wednesday, 5/4:
Overall, yesterday I was feeling pretty good. I find it difficult to remain fruit-free toward the end of the night. I had 1 serving of fruit yesterday, at the end of dinner.
I did a good plyo workout last night, hopping up sets of stairs. It really makes sense to be to run my workouts like a bootcamp, because in 45 minutes you can REALLY wear yourself out!
Breakfast: 2 hard-boiled eggs
Snack: 1/2 cup mixed nuts: pistachios, cashews, pecans
Lunch: Canned salmon with dijon mustard, green beans, carrots, and mix of kale, dandelion greens, and chard with braggs sprayed on top
Snack: 4 celery stalks with 2 tbsp almond butter
Dinner: Post-workout Salad of dandelion greens, kale, and chard topped with flax seed oil, braggs, and nutritional yeast flakes. Salted tomato. 8 oz coconut juice with wheat grass mixed in. 1/2 mango.
I started the 30 day challenge late so this is my first week. I was wondering if you could check out a days food log to let me know if I am doing the diet correctly. Another issue I’m having is that I feel super bloated. I’m not sure what to do about this so I was wondering if you had any suggestions after looking at my meals.
Breakfast: 1 egg, left over ground turkey meat, spinach, chia seeds, all cooked in olive oil and a black coffee, supplements/vitamins
Snack: 1 hard boiled egg, carrots and snap peas
Lunch: Cabbage tacos with ground turkey mean, grilled peppers and onions, tomato and guacamole.
Snack: Leftovers from lunch and a Kombucha (12 oz)
Pre-workout: 4 oz coconut water + 1 scoopful L-glutamine
Post-workout: 4 oz coconut water + 1 scoopful L-glutamine
Dinner: Shot of Apple Cider vinager (help with digestions) Rattatoui (eggplant, zuchini, peppers baked in diced roasted tomato (canned)), grilled chicken breast using olive oil, 1/3 yam
Thanks,
Danielle Kellar
I think we’re around Day 9 now … anyway, I made salmon and vegetables … baked the salmon for 20 min with olive oil, salt, pepper, and tarragon. Served it on a bed of arugula and sliced (raw) fennel, used the fennel leaves on some sauteed vegetables. Photo to come!