Ahh today was busy! I can’t tell you how nice it is to be on my couch right now. Ha! Lets see.. today was my rest day so I woke up and then babysat, then class, then drove across town to my new job to get some paperwork, then drove back over here to wait for an hour and a half to get a pre-employment drug screen, then class again, and now I’m finally home at 6:00! Looks like the next few days will be crazy like this as well. Except, replace babysitting with the gym

Anyway, how was everyone’s weekend? I had a great time with Bryon who came down to spend the weekend with me! I got to watch him in action:

The highlight (food wise) was a new restaurant we went to. Well, it was new for me- it’s Bryon’s favorite! It was called the Genghis Grill. It was so neat- you pick from a bunch of raw meats and put them in a bowl, then you add in as much veggies as you want. (I chose probably 2 oz each of chicken, turkey, and shrimp.) Then you season it all up – I chose cayenne pepper and black pepper- then you pick a sauce (I chose the Asian Chili sauce- looked it up beforehand and was 0 calorie plus the flavor I wanted!). Then you give the whole bowl to one o the workers along with your choice of starch (I chose brown rice.) They stir-fry it all up and bring it to you..so neat!

Since my day was so busy I barely snapped pictures of any of my meals. I did get a couple though!

A 5 oz tuna can mixed with 1.5 oz avocado, mustard, cayenne pepper, and black pepper. With steamed zucchini on the side:

And pumpkin oats made with 30 grams oatbran, 110 grams pure pumpkin, oat fiber, 1 tbsp organic peanut butter, cinnamon, ginger, and stevia:

With 100 grams of chicken for my protein in that meal:

There was also a protein shake, pistachios, cauliflower, tilapia, avocado, and more oatbran with Nutrafiber and protein powder consumed. And I haven’t had dessert yet!

That’s it for now.. I’m pooped! See you!

How to enter (3 ways):

1. Subscribe to Tropical Traditions Newsletter and leave me a comment letting me know you did
2. Follow Tropical Traditions on Twitter and leave me a comment letting me know your a follower!
3. Email me (foodsofapril@yahoo.com) a picture of you flexing (my request) OR with a spoon on your nose (Bryon’s request) Haha!

Each one is a separate entry. Contest open until September 10th.

I’m sure many of you have seen all the negativity floating around the blogworld lately- rude comments, mean emails, and accusatory blog posts by other bloggers. Well, I just want to put it from a different perspective. I was talking with another medical student and we both decided I should do a quick post on this! I’ve seen others claim that low carb/high protein is bad, I’ve seen others talk about salt, about sugar, etc etc. Well the truth is- every BODY is different and has different needs. For some examples:

• Diabetics or hyperglycemics-  have trouble stabilizing their blood sugar. They do best on a moderate carbohydrate diet full of complex carbohydrates- not sugar (unless they are trying to battle hypoglycemia, but that’s something else)
• Renal failure patients– they are on a fluid restriction diet. As well as a restriction on phosphorus and potassium (this is in foods like broccoli, zucchini, bananas, etc)
• Cardiac patients- Usually on a salt restriction. People with low blood pressure may need salt, while high blood pressure patients do not.
• Burn patients- high protein diet.
• Crohn’s disease- low fiber diet. This means not many veggies, oatmeal, etc.
• Celiac disease- no gluten. This means no bread, pasta, cereal, etc.

Those were just to name a few! Goes against what others say is “good for you” huh? So as you can see, every body’s needs are different. So everyone should quit criticizing others, as nobody truly knows what other people’s needs are.

Anywhoo, on to my day! I woke up a pretty hungry chica and ate my usual pre-workout oats. Then headed to the gym for my Hamstrings/Glutes/Calves workout! I was pretty excited for it since I skipped lifting yesterday. Anyway, here’s how it looked:

All Straight Sets

• Stiff-Leg Deadlift- 2 sets of 10 with 135 pounds, 4 sets of 8, 8, 7, 6 with 145 pounds <-increased reps
• Bulgarian Split Squats (on the Smith)- 80 pounds, 4 sets of 10, 10, 9, 8 <-increased reps
• 45 Degree Leg Press- 325 pounds, 4 sets of 10, 8, 8, 8
• Cable Hamstring Curl- 20 pounds per leg, 1 set of 12; 22.5 pounds, 1 set o 8; 25 pounds, 2 sets of 7 <-increased weight
• Seated Calf Raise- 45 pound plate, 4 sets of 11-13
• Standing Calf Raise (varying toes pointed in and out) on Smith- 80 pounds, 3 sets of 25 <-increased reps
• Laying Leg Curl- 40 pounds, 3 sets of 8 <-this machine I’m still on the fence about.. didn’t feel right

Total Time: 1 hour 26 minutes (with 10 minutes of stretching) Cals Burned: 530 Max HR: 180

Yeah!

The rest of the day I spent going to a doctor’s appointment, the pharmacy, the Asian Market, homework, and studying!

I have a nice review for you all today though! The nice people at Julian Bakery sent me a couple of loafs to review. They have a bunch of low-carb, gluten-free, and wheat-free breads. As I’ve mentioned I’m slightly wheat intolerant so I tend to stay away from bread products; however, I do not have Celiac disease therefore I can tolerate a little bit. Anyway, today I tried out the Smart Carb # 1 Bread.

I made my Pumpkin French Toast (cutting down the recipe for one slice) with it!

served with sf maple syrup and sunbutter

So this bread is pretty much fantastic. Amazing stats: 1 slice: 109 calories, 12 grams protein, 1 net carb, 1 gram of fat! And the bread is super hearty- thick, doughy, and delicious. It’s not very sweet (no sugar or sweetener in it) but it still tastes very good! I’d definitely recommend it. I want to try all of them!

Bryon is coming home for the weekend, so I’m off to spend time with him!  I’ll leave you all with a good read by Aubrie! Have a great night!

I can’t believe it’s already Thursday.. where does the time go?

Lets see.. not too much here- been busy with school and getting ready for work! I’ve gotten some great questions regarding school I thought I’d answer here. I already have my LPN license and am going to school for my RN. But since I already have a nursing license the schooling is a bit difference- I get to get my degree quicker but I’m also supposed to have 1000 hours of working as an LPN which I don’t currently have. Hence the 2 jobs I just got! LOL. So before I can get to the actual nursing clinicals for my RN I have to complete those hours. So right now I’m just taking a bunch of pre-requistes for my ADN and BSN!

Anyhow, today was a bit different. I babysat this morning 6-8, then had class at 11:00-12:15, and then I have it again tonight from 4:30-5:45. I decided to skip lifting today because I plan on lifting on Sundays from now on and taking off another day during the week!

As far as interesting meals go.. I’ve been eating a lot of the same meals and love it! A few of the highlights though:

A package of kelp noodles with Maria’s peanut sauce and 100 grams of chicken breast:

Lindsay’s Pad Thai recipe with chicken:

And my newest love for the night time.. ON’s Banana Casein protein powder! So far I’ve had the chocolate and vanilla and both were good at the beginning but started to gross me out by the end of the container. But the banana is amazing so far! I’m hoping the banana will be different! LOL. But so far, so good! I’ve been making a pudding out of it by mixing the casein, peanut flour, NutraFiber, cinnamon, water, and topping it with a little almond butter for my dessert. It’s amazing!

And for those of you research lovers out there.. here’s a new article I found regarding a study on fructose/glucose and cancer correlation! I hate that I have to do a disclaimer each time I post these but seems like I always get some rude comments.. so anyway the article is not my opinion, nor am I trying to scare you away from anything. Just like to be kept up in the know!

And for more fructose/glucose info, check out the informative comment Maria left here regarding how much fructose you should consume!

That’s it for today.. see ya later!

Today I thought I’d show you what I bring to the gym. I don’t bring much as I hate carrying things around! Here are the basics:

Gloves:

These really don’t help much as my hands are still pretty calloused over. But they help a bit with the pain! LOL

Heart Rate Monitor:

Technically I don’t need this but it’s fun to see how many calories I burn and how high my heart rate gets while lifting. I also use it to time my rest periods.

Ipod:

That’s a must! Although usually I end up zoning out.. but when I’m doing really heavy compound lifts that take a lot out of me I like to have some loud music on. As far as what I listen to..well, I’m kind of an oddball! It really depends on my mood as well as what lift I’m doing..as strange as it sounds I find music that “fits” the exercise that I’m doing! LOL. For example..here are some of the latest things I’ve been listening to (I’ve been in a madder mood lately, ha!):

My “mad” music.. usually listen to this during hard compound lifts like deadlifts, squats, rows, shoulder presses, bench press, etc

• Cold (by Crossfade)-
• Smells Like Teen Spirit (Nirvana)
• Make Damn Sure (Taking Back Sunday)
• Odd One (Sick Puppies)
• She’s a Lady (Forever The Sickest Kids)
• It’s Not Your Fault (New Found Glory)
• Pain (Three Days Grace)
• I Hate Everything About You (Three Days Grace)
• Face Down (Red Jumpsuit Apparatus)

Other songs that help me lift lately:

• Say Aah (Trey Songz)
• Promiscuous (Nelly Furtado)
• Tie Me Down (New Boyz)
• Ride (Ciara)
• Clothes Off (Gym Class Heroes)
• Slide (Goo Goo Dolls)
• Got Your Back (T.I and Keri Hilson)
• Dynamite (Taio Cruz)
• Magic (B.O.B)
• Fantasy Girl (Baby Bash)
• Sexy Chick (David Guetta Ft.Akon)
• Buy You a Drank (T-Pain)
• I Love College (Asher Roth)

And I’m also a big country fan..but usually don’t listen to it during lifting! Unless I’m doing something easy..but when does that ever happen?

Huge water bottle filled with water and Xtend BCAAs:

And last but not least my baby- my training journal! Every night before I go to bed I write down the exercises I have planned as well as the weight I did last time. Then when I workout I record what weight I actually used (I aim to go higher, or the same as last time depending how many reps I got) as well as the reps (I always aim to get more reps than last time.)

They get pretty messy as you can see!

Speaking of workouts.. I had a sweet Back/Bis/Abs workout! Check it out:

Straight Sets (1 minute rest)

• Wide Grip Overhand Pull Ups- 4 sets of 8, 6, 6, 5 <-increased reps..YEAH!! Close to my goal of 10!
• Bent Over BB Row- 100 pounds, 4 sets of 10, 8, 8, 7 <-increased reps

Dropsets:

• Lat Pull Down- 100 pounds and 85 pounds, 4 sets

Straight Sets:

• One Arm Row- 42.5 pounds per arm, 4 sets of 7, 7, 6, 6
• DB Curls- 20 pounds per arm, 4 sets of 8, 7, 6, 6
• Cable Hammer Curls-20 pounds, 1 set of 12; 30 pounds, 2 sets of 8
• Hanging Straight Leg Raises- 4 sets of 15-20
• Weighted Cable Crunch- 80 pounds, 4 sets of 10-15

Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes Calories Burned: 507 Max HR: 215

Off to lab..bye!



You all are probably wondering why the heck I’m posting in the afternoon huh? Well it’s my free time on Tues, Wed, and Thurs.. so this is probably when I’ll post!

First, a bunch of random things to share! Well, the best news of the day is I got that job I was interviewing for! I’m going to start orientation/training soon. I’ll be a nurse for a home that takes care of disabled children and young adults. As a the nurse I’ll be in charge of all of the patients, as well as the other staff. There are direct care staff which will do all of the mouth-feedings, changings, showers, etc. So what I do is basically give medications (shots and pills), take care of and feed through NG tubes or J tubes or G tubes, perform tracheostomy care, assessments, etc. (I linked those in case any of you are interested in seeing or knowing what those are!) The nice thing is that there isn’t a ton of paperwork. And, my job is actually PRN- so I’ll just take over when people want to take vacations or take time off!

In other news, I am never eating raw zucchini again! I don’t know why but I’ve only eaten it twice raw.. and both times I got really sick! What is up with that?

Ok, lets move on to the workout and some food! Today’s lifting session was Shoulders/Tris:

All straight sets (about 1 minute rest) (Oh, and I did them super slow tempo)

• Dumbbell Shoulder Press- 30 pounds per arm, 4 sets of 10, 8, 8, 6
• Close Grip Bench Press (or Tricep Bench Press)- 60 pounds, 4 sets of 8, 9, 9, 9 <-increased reps
• Lateral Raise – 4 sets of Dropsets with 20 pounds 17.5 pounds, and 10 pounds per arm
• Vertical Dips- 4 sets of 12, 9, 9, 8 <-increased reps
• Iso-Lateral Shoulder Press- 80 pounds, 4 sets of 6, 6, 5, 4
• Standing Cable Overhead Tricep Extension- 25 pounds, 4 sets of 8, 7, 7, 6
• Cable Reverse Fly- 10 pounds per arm, 4 sets of 10, 10, 8, 8 <-increased reps
• Tricep Push Ups- 3 sets of 14, 10, 10 <-ahhh fatigued triceps to the max!

Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes Cals Burned: 470 Max HR: 203

My post-workout meal was different today. Basically, it was a mixture of overnight oats and my Half-Way oats. What I did was cook up 40 grams of oatbran with 1 tbsp NutraFiber and water. Once it was cooled a bit I added in 1/2 cup 0% Fage yogurt, 1 scoop vanilla All The Whey protein powder, NuNaturals liquid vanilla stevia, cinnamon, and ginger. I let it sit overnight and ate it cold- it was like rice pudding! Yum!!

297/41/25/3

Sorry for the awful pictures.. my cell phone kinda stinks

Another one of my meals was a salmon salad! I mixed up 4 oz canned salmon with 1 oz avocado, low sodium habanero hot sauce, fresh green chili, black pepper, and cayenne pepper and put it on top of a bed of spinach:

225/30/3/12

Well, that concludes today’s post! Bye!

First off, I’d like to say that I love blogging and I love reading other’s blogs as well! But now that things have kind of picked up around here, I’m going to do my best about posting. But there may be days I can’t- and I hope you’ll stick around! As far as blog-reading goes, I probably won’t have time to comment on a lot of your guy’s blogs.. but I’m still reading! It’s just much less time consuming to read then comment I also probably won’t be posting all of my meals as I’ve decided to pre-make some of my meals (like breakfast and dinner) and eat the same thing for a few days or a week, just to save on time. And I don’t mind!

Anyway, today was a busy and productive day! I started off this morning with protein oats and then a killer Quad/Glutes workout:

Straight Sets (1 minute rest):

• Warm Up: Barbell Squats- 95 pounds, 2 sets of 15 and 12 reps
• Barbell Squats- 115 pounds, 4 sets of 8
• Sumo Squat- 80 pounds, 2 sets of 10, 9; 85 pounds, 1 set of 8; 90 pounds, 1 set of 7 <-increased reps AND weight!
• Hack Squat- 90 pounds of added plates, 4 sets of 9, 8, 8, 7
• Calve Extension- 130 pounds, 3 sets of 15
• Walking Dumbbell Lunges- 70 pounds, 3 sets of 20, 15, 15

Dropsets:

• Glute Pushback- 3 sets with 90, 80, 70 pounds

Straight Sets:

• Leg Extension- 50 pounds, 3 sets of 12 <- still not a fan of these machines…
• One Leg Standing Calf Raise- 35 pounds per leg, 3 sets of 10

Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes Calories Burned: 574 Max HR: 180

Whew! I worked up a major sweat with that bad boy. I’ve never done dropsets for legs before..killer!

Came home, ate my post workout meal, then got to work on my online courses. I have Spanish 2 as well as Sports Nutrition online. They are NOT self paced courses, so that makes it a bit difficult! Although it does give a push to get in all the assignments, reading, quizzes, and tests. And I’ve already been working on the million of assignments I’ve already got assigned!

Foodwise.. one new thing that I tried today was peanut flour covered sweet potatoes thanks to a lovely reader Missy who sent me the recipe! These were her instructions: “I took one sweet potato (and 1 butternut squash) and cut them up for french fries. I then dipped the “fries” in 1 egg white whisked with a bit of ice cold water. I sprinkled with sea salt and stevia and then I dredged the pieces in peanut flour. I spread on a greased cookie sheet and baked at 425 for about 30 minutes or so until crispy looking”:

Can we say yum?

Another new meal I had today was Maria’s Thai Peanut Noodles. I used 2 medium zucchini, Braggs Amino Acids instead of soy sauce, and added in 100 grams of chicken breast:

240/31.5/7/9.5

Even though I’m usually just a sweet peanut butter kinda gal..this was super delicious!!

Pretty sure this will be dinner for the next few days. 285 grams of coleslaw (steamed) with 100 grams lean ground turkey, 2 oz avocado, mustard, and a ton of spices- cayenne pepper, black pepper, parsley, and garlic!

One of my favorites for sure! Well, I’m off to do some homework and some meal preps.. see you later!

I woke up one hungry chica this morning and proceeded to make me some nice hot oatmeal. In the pot went 40 grams of oatbran, and 1.5 cups water. Once it was almost cooked I added in 28 grams of oatfiber (see below), 26 grams ON NitroCore protein powder, 4 grams Tropical Traditions flaxseed, cinnamon, and stevia:

261/20/23/5.5

Yum! You all know my love of fiber (helps tremendously with my IBS) and my favorites by far are psyllium husk and NutraFiber. But NutraFiber is so dang expensive! So when I heard of oatfiber I decided to give it a try for the price. It’s a nice thickener for the oatmeal.. it has a texture of flour which is kind of weird but it’s super low calorie too which is a plus.

Anyway, I spent the morning writing some blog posts and cleaning! My next meal was.. you got it.. more oatmeal. Yesterday when I went shopping I found some TVP that looked different and was different in nutrition stats as well- 43 grams is 120 calories and 23 grams of protein according to the label. So I snagged it! Anyway, I made “granola” with it by just mixing 30 grams of it with some Walden Farms chocolate syrup and then toasted it on the stovetop. I put all of it on top of 30 grams of oatbran (cooked in water and almost a tbsp of ground flaxseed) along with 14 grams Sunland Mixed Nut Butter:

277/25/17/9

For Salmon Sunday I made a delicious stir-fry! I mixed up a bag of regular shirataki noodles with 2 cups cabbage, and sauteed until soft. Then I added in 4 oz baked salmon, 2 oz avocado, stoneground mustard, black pepper, cayenne pepper, and garlic:

Next meal was protein ice cream made by blending 1 cup Unsweetened Almond Dream with a hunk of roasted kabocha squash (85 grams),30 grams peanut flour, 2 packets stevia, 1/4 tsp each guar gum and xanthan gum, cinnamon, and ice:

Perfect consistency..just like thick ice cream!

Along with a packet of pistachios:

Total: 300/23/13/14

Dinner was a simple favorite- 285 grams coleslaw mix sauteed until soft with 100 grams chicken, 2 oz avocado, cayenne, black pepper, and more mustard!

And dessert will be the same as always!

My online classes start tomorrow and although my college officially starts tomorrow too, I don’t have to actually attend class until Tuesday. But the work starts tomorrow! So I’m off to relax while I can!

Finally had some time off today to do a real post!

I had an epic dessert last night.. I seriously felt like I was indulging! I made MJ’s Raw Cookie dough but made a night time version using chocolate casein protein powder, Nutrafiber instead of oats (I use it for my IBS), and a little bit of real almond butter. Heaven!

This morning I woke up, ate my typical protein oats, and then headed to the gym for my Back/Tris workout. It was a fun one!

Straight Sets (1 minute rest):

• Narrow Grip Pull Ups- 4 sets of 10, 7, 5, 5 <-YEAH!!
• T-Bar Row- 110 pounds, 4 sets of 9, 8, 7, 7
• Skull Crushers- 50 pounds, 4 sets of 10, 8, 8, 7
• Weighted Bench Dips with feet higher than waist- 35 pounds, 4 sets of 10, 10, 9, 9
• Tricep Pressdown- 42.5 pounds, 4 sets of 8, 8, 7, 7

Superset:

• V-Bar Lat Pulldown- 100 pounds, 3 sets of 5
• Cable Overhead Tricep Extension- 30 pounds, 3 sets of 8, 7, 8

Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes Cals burned: 470 Max HR: 201

Came home, and drank/ate the usual post workout meal! I decided that the days when my meals are really redundant I’m either not going to even mention them, or just mention them without details/pictures.

So I’ll just show you new meals!

For my 3rd meal of the day I came up with something yummy! I wanted to create a pudding but without all the aspartame or protein powder (I already had enough of it today!). So I came up with something that was somewhat pudding like..not as thick as I wanted, but it tasted like pumpkin pie! I simply blended up 1 cup Unsweetened Almond Dream with 75 grams of roasted kabocha squash, cinnamon, a packet of stevia, a little pinch of psyllium husks, and a pinch of both guar gum and xantham gum. Blended that up for a while and then let sit in the freezer for about 5 minutes to thicken. Then I added in 1/2 serving of MJ’s Proteinola, and ate it with 18 grams of peanut butter (leftover in a jar)!

235/17.5/13/10.5

Pretty awesome stats for “granola” with “pudding” and nut butter eh? Although I have to be careful on the soy.. too much messes up my tummy!

4th meal of the day was Nearly No Carb Pancakes with a little bit of bluberry jam + 1 tbsp Costco organic PB with Walden Farms maple syrup:

The rest of the afternoon was spent doing some grocery shopping at our local fruit stand as well as letting my sister do my make-up! She’s a beauty queen..and I’m not! Ha! So I offered to let her do my make-up a little more dramatic today. Came out pretty good I must say! I needed new facebook pictures anyway

fooling around lol

You can see her post here

Dessert was quick because I was starving! I quickly steamed up 285 grams of coleslaw mix and then added 110 grams of cooked lean ground turkey breast, 2 oz avocado, mustard, cayenne pepper, and black pepper:

Sooo good! But I’m going back for more food.. still hungry!

OH! And I have a good link/info for you all regarding training and cardio. Check out the discussion here (this is written by a very respectable woman- she’s the one who showed me that you shouldn’t have energy to do cardio post workout if your lifting hard enough!)

Off to enjoy my last days of relaxation.. be back tomorrow!

All Straight Sets (1 minute rest):

• Incline DB Bench Press- 32.5 pounds in each arm; 4 sets of 8, 7, 7, 6
• Barbell Bench Press- 75 pounds, 3 sets of 8, 7, 6 <-I want to increase this so bad!
• Standing Military Press- Dropsets with 50 pounds and 40 pounds
• Upright Row- 55 pounds, 4 sets of 8, 9, 8, 7
• Decline Push Ups- 4 sets of 25, 25, 15, 11 <-whew! Chest gave out
• Leaning Side Lateral Raises- 15 pounds per arm, 3 sets of 8
• Face Pull- 50 pounds, 4 sets of 10, 8, 8, 8
• Cable Flyes- 40 pounds, 4 sets of 8

Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes Cals Burned: 446 Max HR: 216

And a recipe.. Low Cal P-Nut Protein Bars

2nd picture featured with MB’s Blueberry Jam

Makes 8 bars @ 68 calories, 11 grams of protein, 2.5 net carbs, trace of fat each

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup peanut flour
• 1 serving (30 grams) vanilla protein powder
• 3/4 cup liquid egg substitute
• 1/4 cup pure pumpkin
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp NuNaturals No Carb Blend
• Cinnamon to taste

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray an 8 x 8 pan (or muffin tins) with nonstick baking spray.
• Mix all ingredients together.
• Pour batter into pan.
• Cook for about 20 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.