Clean Spaghetti Sauce

Ever wondered about marinara sauce and if it is healthy? Well that depends! Sometimes there is sugar added to it, but in general it is from tomatoes, so is generally ok!

I'm obsessed with pasta (switch to whole grain OR go to spaghetti squash for healthier alternatives!) and so I am always looking for new sauces to try that are clean and don't hinder my progress.

BUT! Want an extremely simple recipe to create your own?

INGREDIENTS:
1 (15 oz.) can tomato sauce, no sugar added
2 tbsp. dried basil
1 tbsp. garlic powder
1 tbsp. onion powder
1 tsp. dried oregano
1 tsp. honey
1 tsp. balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp. olive oil
1/2 cup water

Combine all ingredients in a pot and bring to a gentle boil. Allow to simmer for about 5 minutes, being sure to stir frequently to avoid burning.

Each serving (depending on amount, but I usually use about 1/4 cup sauce) is 1/4 green and 1 tsp for the 21 Day Fix!

*Recipe from The Gracious Pantry

My 3 Day Refresh Results and Opinions

This week I decided to test out one of Beachbody's cleanses. I chose the 3 Day Refresh over the Ultimate Reset because I knew I wouldn't have the discipline to do it for 21 days, so I wanted to see if I could get through 3 days first.

First I think we need to talk about what the 3 Day Refresh actually is. I like to describe it as a short term, high nutrient mild detox. You get to eat, which I loved and is why I won't commit to any other detox/cleanse out there just because I want to eat. There is no meat and no starchy carbs, though. 

Here is a breakdown of how each day looks like. You seriously get SO much stuff to put in your belly! I was shocked. I didn't even know if I would have time in the day to eat it all!

There is a list of each type of food allowed in each category, so I decided that I would look at what I enjoyed for foods available (the lists were not too strict, I liked almost everything on them!) and then I chose what I could have the MOST of. Like what was going to fill me up more? I took into account of what I had in the fridge already, but still wanted to eat a larger amount if I could.

Here is what some of my meals included. 2 of the three days I had strawberries with my lunch because you could have 12 (YES!) of them in addition to the vegetable. I also had baby carrots, but changed it the following days because you were only allow 5 baby carrots and that just wasn't enough. I chose to have hummus with my vegetables each day just to keep in simple. I chose to have the same dinner each day because I was working nights and wanted to cook up a big batch of it and split it into three days. I also peeked at the dinner options to pick the one I thought would fill me up the most.

Lunch was a medium sized orange, 1 cup cauliflower and 2 tbsp hummus
Snack was 1 cup cauliflower and 2 tbsp hummus
Dinner was a spinach salad with lots of variety of veggies and a lemon juice/EVOO dressing

 SO after I had my food all planned I had to shop and prep it all so I could be on the go with it (which is another thing I took into consideration when choosing foods).

My grocery bill was about $30, but I did also have
some things at home still.

This was everything prepped and packed for Day 1.
I chose to put all my shake and tea packets into a baggie for days 2 and 3 so that they weren't sliding around in my "lunch bag".

Let's talk about the shakes that you drink during these three days. I was silly and didn't take a picture of the Fiber sweep drink, so I will include a picture of my friend drinking hers!

 Shakeology: A high nutrient dense superfood health shake that provides you with almost all daily vitamins, nutrients, probiotics, and prebiotics that you need each day. It helps to curb cravings throughout the day as well as helps to maintain your energy levels each day. Some drink it for a meal or snack, some have it as a post workouts. During the refresh it is breakfast! I drank my chocolate vegan Shakeology blended with water, ice, and a half a banana for breakfast on the Refresh.

 Fiber Sweep: A fiber loaded (obviously) drink that you mix with 8 oz of water to help clear your intestinal tract. Now, a lot of people think that this is going to cause you to have to "go" all the time, and everyone has a different experience. But in general, this is a mild cleanse and doesn't require you to run to the restroom. This is a beverage that you want to CHUG. Honestly, the taste (flavor) isn't bad, but the texture gets you. This was the worst part and wasn't totally unbearable by any means.


Vanilla Fresh: This is a protein packed shake that allows you to stay full longer. It is also full of nutrients and vitamins to make this super healthy as well, and not JUST a protein drink. You mix/blend this 8-10oz of water and ice and can blend it. You also have the option of blending your lunch fruit into your lunch Vanilla Fresh if you would like, but I chose not to. I wanted to EAT. :) I enjoyed the flavor but thought I could add one of the guilt-free flavorings, cinnamon, to my Day 2 Vanilla Fresh lunch shake, but found that it didn't enhance the flavor much and decided to stick with the shake how it was. I was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed the Vanilla Fresh just shaken with water. Had I not been at work, I would have probably tried blending it with ice and water just to see if that was better.

Now I would just like to show you the teas that I drank, just to give you and idea, because I really enjoyed them and am loving the idea of incorporating more tea into my days. (Of course the kiddos legos had to get in the pic!)

Morning tea I had a Wild Blueberry & Acai green tea. I also have a pomegranate green tea, but it isn't decaffeinated, so I skipped it for the 3 days.

Afternoon tea was this Perfect Peach herbal tea and it was DELISH!

Evening tea was a little different with the minty flavor, but it actually helped me fall asleep! I am really thinking that this will be drink every night!

 Alright, alright, now that you have heard me babble about what this whole Refresh thing is all about, I bet you're wondering how I feel and if I got any results? FINE, I'll tell you! Keep in mind, that although I was NOT starving (a little hungry) during this process, I did cheat on Day 2 and had some crackers that were disgusting (and I had a BITE of a doughnut, I know it's terrible, on Day 1) out of boredom and the inability to eat and drink when I wanted to while at work. Day 3 was perfect! Also keep in mind that I did not have the intention of losing weight, because I don't really need to anymore, but I wanted to reset myself and cleanse a little bit of toxins out of my body from the holiday season the last few months and I had gotten off of my clean eating a little more recently.

Overall, I feel less bloated, I actually have a lot more energy and was able to wake up a little earlier these last couple days. Maybe it was hunger, maybe I was just bogged down and my body didn't want to get up, maybe it was the nutrient overload that helped to increase this, I don't really know.

As for my measurements, I did end up losing 2.6 pounds and lost 4 inches, 2 in my waist and 2 in my hips! I was very happy with those results and really do feel better. I have not even compared my before/after photos until posting them here, so as I type, I don't know what they look like. I have to make the collage real quick and then I will come back and place them here. HERE THEY ARE!!!! You can tell that there is some bloating gone and I'm a little more toned. Overall, I like my transformation! I feel great, so I'll take it and keep those inches off!

If you are interested in joining me in March to do this again (I won't cheat this time!), please shoot me an email to kjeskacoach@gmail.com with "Refresh" in the subject line! 

Some Beachbody News! Get in the know NOW!

News and info about the Club membership as well as info about the 21 Day Fix Extreme program, which is being launched on February 2nd, 2015.

Club Membership Link and sign up for me as YOUR coach:
https://www.teambeachbody.com/signup/-/signup/club?referringRepId=438486

21 Day Fix Extreme Test Group Application so that you know EXACTLY when you can get it:
https://kristijeska.wufoo.com/forms/21-day-fix-extreme-test-group-application/

What can a grapefruit do for you?

My recent meal plan has me eating lots of grapefruit, but do you know why?

Here's 5 fun facts and I think I found the reasons why I am supposed to eat them on my meal plan!

1. Naturally curbs hunger (YAY!)
2. Helps to protect your heart by having the ability LOWER the bad cholesterol
3. Can smooth your rough skin by rubbing a piece of grapefruit sprinkled with sugar (don't use on face, though!)
4. Boosts your metabolism and is great to jump start some weight loss! (OOOOOH YEA!)
5. Firms your skin because of the high amount of vitamin C needed to produce healthy collagen

The 21 Day Fix Misconception

The first time I heard about the 21 Day Fix and some color-coded containers showing me how much I was allowed to eat, I was upset. I thought if I ate healthy, that I didn't need to measure out the amounts. In hindsight, I realize that OF COURSE the amount matters, but I had no idea. I came from a life of processed foods and no concept of what eating clean and healthy truly was (other than vegetables, I've always liked vegetables).

While I waited for my package to arrive, I looked up reviews online. They were super mixed and I read the bad ones, because I was nervous that I made the wrong decision! People said that they gained weight even though they followed the meal plan to a "T". Now I'm like.... Great. Now what did I get myself into. I kept it to myself and decided I was still going to give it a shot because I just needed to do something and I was looking forward to the workouts.

THEN I get my package in the mail and I look at these little containers and am SO nervous about starving, like was I REALLY supposed to eat my days worth of food out of these TINY containers? I decided to give it a week and then say I'm totally done. I'll just do the workouts.

Boy was I WRONG!!!!! First of all, you get multiple of each colored container each day (the number depending on where you are currently at with your weight, and should be recalculated after each round) and they each stood for something different (fruits, vegetables, grains, fats, oils, protein). 

Meal prep was actually a lot of fun and I didn't have to think a lot about it with the way I decided to do it (Blog post for another day) but I just portioned out according to the containers and didn't have to actually measure anything. 

On the first day I couldn't believe how much food I was supposed to eat. Not only were my meals a decent size, but I was allotted 2-3 snacks EVERY day! I had to actually tell myself that it was time to eat. With the water intake you are supposed to have (half your body weight in ounces), I was also staying fuller longer. With drinking the Shakeology, I was actually full for about 3-4 hours and it stabilized my energy so I didn't have my usual late morning crash.

As the weeks went on, it got easier for me to do the meal plan and I actually was eating all the food and still getting results. I was ecstatic. The Fix has literally been a lifestyle and I can't imagine not following that meal plan EVER, I've even tried. It just works for me and is so practical.

At the end of 30 days, I had lost 10 pounds and I never measured inches (BIG mistake). 

I am in love with the 21 Day Fix and I have found that it teaches everyone something new and we can all improve somewhere.

Checking off colored containers on a list is much more fun than checking of the vegetable list anyway.

If you found this helpful, I would love to see you comment below or share it on your social media.

Any questions I didn't answer or hesitations that I didn't cover? Comment below and I will respond to you!

Ready to take the plunge and try it out in my next accountability group? Fill out this application: https://kristijeska.wufoo.com/forms/za111ow0a59o0z/

I will contact you in whichever way you specify on the application. If you choose Facebook, please add me as a friend so I can find you! :) www.facebook.com/kljeska