Hello, hello!

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)!

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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!

No time for a big post today! Today’s workout was Chest/Shoulders:

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.

Hi guys!

How’s every one’s week going? Mine has been fairly laid back but still managing to keep busy before next week when the madness begins.

Lets see.. a couple of updates for you all!

First, for those of you asking about RSS feeds.. I’m really not technologically advanced so I don’t really know about them. But I was playing around today and found that if you go HERE, you can sign up in the bottom right corner. Hopefully that works? Anyone who knows about this shoot me some info too!

On another note, I failed to mention that when I said I got “looks” from men at the gym I didn’t mean rude ones (except for that one meanie that said I was getting “big.” Anyway, the looks I get are usually one or both of these ones:

1. The look of surprise- like what the heck is that little girl going to do with that 145 pound bar
2. Or, the look of the guys trying to make it not obvious that they are staring at my butt while I’m doing deadlifts Ha!

Haha no there’s actually not too many creepers at my gym probably because I workout in the morning. Although I have been hit on a couple times, usually people are just friendly. Our gym is set up so there is only one weight room- I hear some gyms have a women’s and men segregated sections? That is so weird. I workout with the boys and a few women and never have any problems.

OH! And my boyfriend got accepted into the Volvo speciality program at his school today! Congrats Bryon! That means he gets to come home in about 4 months..not bad at all!

Moving on! Today’s workout was Hamstrings/Glutes/Calves. And boy did I murder my poor lower body.. it’s still feeling the effects as I type! Here’s how it went:

All Straight Sets

• Stiff-Leg Deadlift- 2 sets of 10 with 135 pounds, 4 sets of 8, 8, 6, 6 with 145 pounds
• Bulgarian Split Squats (on the Smith)- 80 pounds, 4 sets of 10, 9, 8, 8
• 45 Degree Leg Press- 325 pounds, 4 sets of 10, 10, 9, 9
• Cable Hamstring Curl- 20 pounds per leg, 4 sets of 10, 10, 9, 9
• Seated Calf Raise- 45 pound plate, 4 sets of 11-12
• Standing Calf Raise (varying toes pointed in and out) on Smith- 80 pounds, 3 sets of 20
• Laying Leg Curl- 40 pounds, 3 sets of 8 <-not sure how I feel about this machine.. in the past it used to hurt the back of my knees. Didn’t hurt today but still didn’t feel right.. probably will take it out of program

Total Time: 1 hour 18 minutes + 10 minutes stretching

Cals Burned: 510 Max HR: 179

My food for the day was all over the place and pretty boring. But there were some new additions!

I made MJ’s Proteinola.. super good! I followed her recipe exactly and it was great.

Also, I made some of my friend Mary Beth’s blueberry sauce/syrup! All you do is spray a skillet with Pam, then throw a bunch of fresh blueberries and a packet of stevia into it. Simmer on low heat for about an hour- stirring occasionally. It’s a great mix in for yogurt, cottage cheese, or on top of oatmeal or protein pancakes!

Also, I tried Tropical Traditions Whole Flaxseed yesterday that they sent me to review.

According to the website,

• Flaxseed has a high ratio of Linolenic (Omega-3) to Linoleic (omega-6) fatty acids. While many other plant seeds contain a higher ratio of omega-6 fats, flaxseed is the one of the few seeds that contains a much higher ratio of the essential omega-3 fats.
• Flaxseed oil is one of the richest sources of OMEGA-3 fatty acid, Alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) an ESSENTIAL FATTY ACID (EFA). This fatty acid is considered essential, meaning that your body cannot make it but requires it and so must derive all of it from the diet. The average American diet is lacking in this fat. Supportive but not conclusive research shows that consumption of EPA and DHA omega-3 fatty acids may reduce the risk of coronary heart disease. One serving of Organic Whole Flaxseed provides 9 grms of EPA and DHA omega-3 fatty acids.
• Golden Flaxseed is unique in that 48% of its total fat content is omega-3 fatty acids.
• Flaxseed contains very high amounts of DIETARY FIBER, both SOLUBLE and INSOLUBLE. Golden Flaxseed is 28%-35% fiber, 1/3 of which is soluble, and the other 2/3 insoluble. Soluble fiber also plays an important role in maintaining the “good bacteria” in our bowel, like Lactobacillus Acidophilus and Bifidobacteria. Insoluble fiber increases the bulk of stools.
• Flaxseed is an outstanding source of many essential nutrients, including: proteins, carbohydrates, minerals, folate, vitamin B-6, pantothenic acid, magnesium, potassium, iron, thiamine, copper, zinc, calcium and phosphorus.

I put some oatmeal and it was good- helped thicken it up and made it more filling! Thanks Tropical Traditions!

Also, I have a question for you guys! Things have started to pick up in my life and I haven’t had as much time to blog or come up with exciting ideas. So I was thinking, it would be great if I had some days where I featured a reader’s recipe! It could be a recipe you created yourself, or when you made and liked. Or one that you want to try that you think everyone else would like!

If your interested shoot me an email at foodsofapril@yahoo.com. Any recipe or person is welcome!

Well, that’s it for today. See ya!

Back/Bis/Abs Day!

Straight Sets (1 minute rest)

• Wide Grip Overhand Pull Ups- 4 sets of 7, 6, 5, 5
• Bent Over BB Row- 100 pounds, 4 sets of 9, 9, 7, 7

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 <-increased weight
• DB Curls- 20 pounds per arm, 4 sets of 8, 7, 6, 6
• Hammer Curls-15 pounds per arm, 3 sets of 8
• Weighted Cable Crunch- 80 ponds, 4 sets
• Hanging Straight Leg Raises- 4 sets

Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes Calories Burned: 485 Max HR: 165

PB Kabocha Pancakes

Makes 1 serving @ 115 calories, 15 grams protein, 9 net carbs, 1 gram of fat

Ingredients:

• 75 grams (or about a cup) of baked kabocha squash (could probably use baked pumpkin or sweet potatoes too)
• 1/2 serving (15 grams) peanut flour (could use coconut flour as well)
• 1/4 cup liquid egg whites
• 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 2 tbsp water (to thin)
• Cinnamon
• Stevia (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat skillet or griddle to medium high heat. Spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Blend all ingredients- I used an immersion blender.
3. Pour batter onto griddle, let cook for about 4-5 minutes or until they start to rise.
4. Flip, cook an additional 2 minutes.

Hi!

Last night we had a major thunder storm- knocked out our power a couple times! There was lots of thunder and lightening which had me in bed by 9

Woke up this morning ready for shoulders and tris! New workout today.. was a fun one. A man came up to me today and asked if I was on a new program and I told him yes. Then he asked where I got my programs from because he likes to watch me for new ideas! That was cool. Anyway, here’s how it went:

All straight sets (about 1 minute rest)

• Dumbbell Shoulder Press- 30 pounds per arm, 4 sets of 10, 10, 9, 7 <-YEAH!! increased reps
• Close Grip Bench Press (or Tricep Bench Press)- 50 pounds, 1 set of 12; 60 pounds, 3 sets of 9, 8, 8
• Lateral Raise – Dropsets with 20 pounds and 17.5 pounds per arm
• Vertical Dips- 4 sets of 10, 9, 9, 8
• Iso-Lateral Shoulder Press- 80 pounds, 4 sets of 7, 7, 6, 6
• Leaning Cable Lateral Raise- 5 pounds, 3 sets of 10, 9, 9
• Standing Cable Overhead Tricep Extension- 25 pounds, 4 sets o 10, 8, 7, 7
• Cable Reverse Fly- 10 pounds per arm, 3 sets of 10, 8, 8
• Cable Concentrated Tricep Extension- 10 pounds, 3 sets of 10, 9, 9

Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes Cals Burned: 505 Max HR: 219

Came home, drank a shake, and then warmed myself back up with protein oats!

My next meal was a success thanks to my good friend Mary Beth! Last time I failed making Maria’s Eggplant French Toast, although her Bread Pudding came out delicious. Anyway, Mary Beth came up with this genius recipe.. here’s what I (and she) did. I sliced up an eggplant really thin, and sprinkled with salt (to get out the bitterness.) Let it sit about 10 minutes. Then I poked it with a fork and dipped it in 1/4 cup to 1/3 cup egg whites (I actually measured out 1/2 cup, but had a lot left over) mixed with stevia and cinnamon. Once they were soaked with the egg whites I dipped them in 1/4 cup peanut flour. Then I “fried” them on the stove top with Pam! Eaten with a mixture of 1 tbsp Costco organic PB + Walden Farms calorie free syrup:

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So good! The peanut flour made it really bready and it didn’t taste like eggplant at all. Yay! I’m loving this flour

The rest of the day I didn’t get a chance to snap a picture of my meals. I was spending time with my best girl friend- we’ve been friends since we were in the 1st grade! She is pregnant with her first kiddo and is due in October so it was great to catch up with her!

To make up for some none food photos.. I wanted to show you the difference from when my arms are flexed and when I’m just natural! I look a lot bigger (or bigger muscles) when I lift as well as when I flex, but when I get home my arms look pretty normal! When I flex for people they are usually pretty surprised since I’m not a big girl. Ha! So just because you have muscles doesn’t mean you’ll always look muscular (which is kind of sad if you ask me)..

Flexed:

Relaxed:

That’s it for today!

Hello!

Lets see.. I started a new lifting phase today! I’m back to the strength-hypertrophy phase which is my absolute favorite! (I like the power phase since I feel pretty bad-a doing clapping push ups and what not) but strength is my thang Anyway, according to Kristina,

“Hypertrophy is specific for the adaptation of maximal muscle growth, focusing on high levels of volume with minimal rest periods to force cellular changes that results in an overall increase in muscle size. Hypertrophy acute variables typically are set at: 6-12 reps, 3-5 sets, tempo of 2/0/2, 75-85% intensity, 0-60 sec rest, 3-6 times a week for 4-6 weeks, with 2-4 strength level exercises per body part.”

So I had fun last night planning out all my workouts for the weekend. Today was Quads and Glutes and I loved every brutal moment! Here’s how it went:

Straight Sets (30 seconds to 1 minute 10 seconds rest- usually the minute rest):

• Warm Up: Barbell Squats- 95 pounds, 2 sets of 14 and 12 reps
• Barbell Squats- 115 pounds, 4 sets of 8
• Sumo Squat- 80 pounds, 4 sets of 9, 8, 8, 7
• Box Squats- 45 pounds, 55 pounds, 65 pounds, 75 pounds- all a set of 10 <-went light to get the form down and figure out what weight to use since it was a new exercise
• Hack Squat- 90 pounds of added plates, 3 sets of 9, 8, 8
• Calve Extension- 130 pounds, 3 sets of 15
• Walking Dumbbell Lunges- 70 pounds, 3 sets of 20, 15, 15 <-YAY!! see note below
• Cable Glute Kickback- 15 pounds, 2 sets of 10 and 12; 17.5 pounds, 1 set of 10
• One Leg Standing Calf Raise- 35 pounds per leg, 3 sets of 10

Total Time: 1 hour 13 minutes Calories Burned: 520 Max HR: 183

So I haven’t done walking lunges in a couple months since my last stability phase. And today I used the same weight I did a couple months ago.. but did much more reps. And considering it was towards the end of my workout I was quite pleased!

Oh, and there was some new man at the gym this morning that would not stop staring!! Kinda creepy. I get looks/watched a lot at the gym but usually they try not to make it obvious. But this guy was like staring everywhere I went.. weird.

Anyway, I came home and had my favorite post workout meal of a Lightened Double Chocolate Peppermint shake and 40 grams of oatbran + 25 grams NutraFiber + 25 grams Lipotropic PB Protein Powder. Here pretty soon I may have to go straight to work from the gym so I’m enjoying these large warm and cold post workout meals while I can!

My next meal was another experiment- trying to use up pantry items. Since I knew my 4th meal would be high protein and lower carb/fat, I made this meal higher in the carbs and fat department. I cooked up 40 grams oats along with a serving of TVP (secret ingredient.) Once it was cooked I added a tbsp of protein powder (just to bump it up a bit), stevia, and cinnamon. Topped it with a tbsp of Sunland Mixed Nut Butter:

314/27/24/11

Delicious! The TVP cooked right along with the oats and made for a creamy texture.

The rest of the afternoon I spent with a couple old friends from nursing school. I can’t believe it’s been nearly 2 years since I graduated it! Man, we had some good memories. Luckily I never had any big screw ups but there were some fun/funny times, I’ll tell you what! I’m in a reminiscing mood so I’ll give you all a couple of “first time” memories:

• First day of clinical in Med/Surg- put in a Nasogastric tube and a urinary catheter. (NG tube is a tube that you insert through the nose and it goes down into the stomach. A catheter goes up your urethra into your bladder.) Talk about a first day!
• Med Surg- took out an IV for the first time at the veterans hospital, and the patient decided to scream (for fun) as soon as I pulled it out- I almost had a heart attack!
• Postpartum- We were giving a newborn it’s first bath and he peed on my friend
• First shower I gave I got myself soaking wet

And of course there were a lot of other crazy things that happened- I did work in Neurology, Labor & Delivery, Postpartum, Hospice, Med/Surg, Operating Room, Cardiac and Rehab, and Psychiatric so I’m sure you all can imagine!

Anyway, my next meal was AMAZING. So pretty much, MJ is a genius!! I made her PB Raw Cookie Dough with only one substitution- I used about 1/3 cup of ground NutraFiber instead of oats:

HEAVEN ON EARTH! Tasted just like peanut butter cookie dough. Ok, maybe my taste buds are just crazy but I’m amazed! And it made a big portion too. You all must make!

I won’t even post dinner or dessert since it’s pretty much the same as it’s been. Can’t get enough veggies and protein!

That’s it for today.. until tomorrow!

Happy Sunday!

My day was spent lounging around, laundry, cleaning, baking, reading, stretching, and enjoying my time off while I can! Here in a week or two my days are going to be super hectic.. so I’m enjoying my lazy days while I can!

**Side note: My sister did a recipe/skin care post that was pretty good, you can read it here!

We’ll get straight to the point today! Was a rest day as far as exercise goes.

Meal one was of course my favorite meal and consisted of 40 grams oatbran, 30 grams NutraFiber, 26 grams ON Nitrocore Cookies & Cream protein powder, cinnamon, and stevia:

Meal 2 was more oats! This time I wanted to experiment a bit. So I cooked up 30 grams of oatbran with 8 grams NutraFiber and water. Once it was pretty much absorbed I added in a bit more water and then stirred in 15 grams (1/2 serving) of peanut flour, 12 grams vanilla All The Whey protein powder, cinnamon, and stevia. I also mixed in 10 grams almond butter:

262/25/17/7

It actually did taste nutty! I was afraid the peanut flour would make it nasty but it was quite tasty.

Meal 3 revolved around Salmon Sunday of course. On the stove top I sauteed a 10 oz package of shirataki noodles with 3 oz of spinach. Then I added in 4 oz baked salmon as well as 40 grams (a bit more than 2 tbsp) of yogurt dip (see below), cayenne pepper, black pepper, and sea salt:

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Very good! We found this dip at Costco and it’s way good. Tastes like queso to me! And the ingredients are all natural- just greek yogurt, peppers, spices, etc.

I had a little sweet tooth craving so I came up with a new “recipe” with the idea from a reader. I added 10 grams of peanut flour to a bowl, and then added in just a splash of Torini sugar free peanut butter syrup so that it got the consistency of peanut butter. Then I added in 3 grams of real peanut butter.. yummy!!

54/5.5/1/2

Next up was Alyson’s Lightened Up PB Kabocha Protein Shake with a few adjustments- I used 1 cup of almond milk instead of the 3/4, 57 grams kabocha, and Torini sf peanut butter syrup instead of the PB2.

Plus 15 grams almonds dusted in cocoa:

So good! But yep, the gums definitely make my stomach stick out

Despite being bloated already I was craving cauliflower like crazy. (Weird much?) Anyway, I went with my Mock Shepherds Pie. Just a pound of cauliflower pureed with Braggs Liquid Amino acids, cayenne pepper, black pepper, parsley, and nutmeg. Mixed with 100 grams lean ground turkey breast (plus some mustard and hot sauce post picture):

Dessert will probably be egg white pancakes with peanut butter!

Off to get things ready for tomorrow.. bye!

Happy Saturday!

Regarding the sugar info on my last post.. I wanted to clarify that it is not my opinion or personal research. By posting information like that, it is not my intention to persuade any of you to do anything- but personally, I like to read/research info on varying health topics. I am not going to stop posting interesting information that I find- I find it useful and good to know. Especially if it’s out of the norm! When I find information regarding how things are processed in the body I like to educate myself as much as possible, especially when it’s from a reliable source. None of you have to agree with it one way or the other (I never specified if I agreed or not), but I think we should just have fun learning new ideas! I think it was very generous of Maria to send over all that info for you all who wanted to know more too.

Speaking of which, here are some different articles on fructose and glucose. (I can’t post the info here, since it’s from a different site.)

Moving on!

Started my day of with protein oatbran and then went to the gym for Back/Tris/bit of Abs. I didn’t let my food digest long enough so it made for a tad uncomfortable workout, but still great nonetheless! Here’s how it went:

Straight Sets:

Back:

• Wide Grip Pull Ups- 4 sets of 7, 6, 5, 5 <-23 total, a PR!
• Bent Over Row- 100 pounds, 4 sets of 9, 8, 8, 8
• T-Bar Row- 110 pounds, 3 sets of 8
• Low Row- 100 pounds, 3 sets of 7, 5, 5

Tris:

• Vertical Unassisted Dips- 4 sets of 12, 11, 10, 10
• Cable Overhead Tri Extension- 25 pounds, 2 sets of 10, 2 sets of 8
• Tricep Pressdown- 42.5 pounds, 3 sets of 8

Abs:

• Hanging Straight Leg Raises- 4 sets of 25, 20, 20, 15
• Cable Crunch- 80 pounds, 4 sets of 20, 15, 15, 10

Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes Cals Burned: 516 Max HR: 162

Came home, ate my favorite post workout meal of a Lightened Double Chocolate Peppermint Shake as well as oats made with 40 grams oatbran, 25 grams Nutrafiber, 25 grams Chocolate PB Lipotropic protein powder, and cinnamon.

Spent the morning surfing the net and ordering some scrubs!

Next meal was pretty random as my fridge is pretty bare. I cooked up 285 grams of shredded coleslaw mix and then added 4 oz canned tuna, pure red chili, mustard, and black pepper. On the side I had a package of pistachios:

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And…my next 3 meals were the same as yesterday What can I say.. I like my food!

Oh! I wanted to ask you all if any of you have any information or research (from a credible source) about dairy causing acne. I always believed that was a myth but every time I eat cottage cheese I seem to break out.. coincidence? Or is it related to my lactose intolerance? Hmm.. any info, send it over!

That’s all for today.. sorry for the lame post. See you tomorrow!

Hi!

First up some random things I wanted to share! I weighed myself for the first time in a couple weeks (I wasn’t eating as good as normal, less exercise, more salt, etc and didn’t want to weigh myself at that time) and it was 109.5?? What the?? I guess shocking the body does do something to the metabolism? Its probably just a flucuation and will go up again but hey- I obviously learned going on vacation won’t kill you!

Also, I know a lot of you disagreed on some of the info I posted on fruits a few days ago. Maria left an awesome comment for some of you who wanted more info. This is what she said:

“For those of you who need more info on the difference between sugars…

1. After eating fructose, 100 percent of the metabolic burden rests on your liver. But with glucose, your liver has to break down only 20 percent.

2. Every cell in your body, including your brain, utilizes glucose. Therefore, much of it is “burned up” immediately after you consume it. By contrast, fructose is turned into free fatty acids (FFAs), VLDL (the damaging form of cholesterol), and triglycerides, which get stored as fat.

3. The fatty acids created during fructose metabolism accumulate as fat droplets in your liver and skeletal muscle tissues, causing insulin resistance and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Insulin resistance progresses to metabolic syndrome and type II diabetes.

4. Fructose is the most lipophilic carbohydrate. In other words, fructose converts to activated glycerol (g-3-p), which is directly used to turn FFAs into triglycerides. The more g-3-p you have, the more fat you store. Glucose does not do this.

5. When you eat 120 calories of glucose, less than one calorie is stored as fat. 120 calories of fructose results in 40 calories being stored as fat. Consuming fructose is essentially consuming fat!

6. The metabolism of fructose by your liver creates a long list of waste products and toxins, including a large amount of uric acid, which drives up blood pressure and causes gout.

7. Glucose suppresses the hunger hormone ghrelin and stimulates leptin, which suppresses your appetite. Fructose has no effect on ghrelin and interferes with your brain’s communication with leptin, resulting in overeating.”

Great info huh?

Another thing.. is I may have a 2nd job! A week ago I had an interview but had to turn the position down because they wanted night shifts. However, I guess the woman interviewing me called my references and what not and called me yesterday saying they are thinking about hiring me as a PRN nurse for the days and evenings (either 6 am to 2 pm or 2 pm to 10 pm.) Sweet! So I went for an interview with another nurse today and she said that she really believes that I’m going to be hired.. yay! I’ll let you all know more info as it comes.. don’t want to jinx myself on anything.

Ok, on to the day!

Woke up, ate the usual pre-workout breakfast, and headed to the gym for Chest/Shoulders. I’ll leave off the reps for time sake today..

All Regular Sets (1 minute to 1 minute 30 seconds rest):

• Incline Dumbbell Bench Press- 32.5 pounds per arm, 4 sets
• Dumbbell Shoulder Press- 30 pounds per arm, 4 sets
• Bench Press (a man spotted me)- 75 pounds, 3 sets
• Lateral Raises- dropsets with 20 pounds and 15 pounds per arm, 4 sets
• Military Press (standing)- 50 pounds, 4 sets
• Face Pull- 50 pounds, 4 sets
• Cable Crossover- 40 pounds, 3 sets
• Decline Push Ups- 3 sets

Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes Calories Burned: 475 Max HR: 178

I came home super hungry. Usually I down a shake first but I didn’t want to have to use the restroom at the interview so instead I made a big bowl of oats. It had 50 grams of oatbran, 25 grams NutraFiber, 33 grams vanilla All The Whey, 1/4 cup 0% Fage yogurt, Davinci SF Peanut Butter Syrup, and cinnamon. (In a rush, no pic).

The verdict on the syrup? Love it! It tastes like butterfingers to me..yummy!

So then I had the interview and came home.. hungry again. I whipped up a stir-fry using 7 oz steelhead trout, a package of shirataki noodles (not the tofu version), 1/2 tsp almond oil, 2 cups cabbage, cayenne pepper, black pepper, and garlic:

I also had 0.65 oz of pepitas (all that is left.. darnet):

Total: 274/27/5/16

Helped my mom pick out a new phone in the afternoon, then it was time to eat again! I made some High Protein P-Nut Pancakes and ate it with a tbsp of Sunland Mixed Nut Butter (one of my top favorites, by the way.. possibly my number one favorite nut butter):

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For dinner I made Maria’s Cauliflower Rice, but used a pound of cauliflower instead. And I opted for the coconut oil! I mixed it with 100 grams lean ground turkey, cayenne pepper, black pepper, and parsley:

Not sure what dessert will be.. we shall see what I’m in the mood for!

See you tomorrow!

Another version of peanut flour pancakes that have been floating around the blogworld!

Makes 1 serving (I got 4 fat pancakes) @ 170 calories, 28 grams of protein, 4 net carbs, 2 grams of fat per serving

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup egg whites
• 30 grams (about 1/4 cup) peanut flour
• 1 packet stevia
• 1/2 tsp to 1 tsp baking powder (I never measure)
• 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
• 1 tsp psyllium husks (optional)

Directions:

1. Blend all ingredients. I use a stick blender so the egg whites get whipped- makes the pancakes fluffier.
2. Spray a skillet or griddle with nonstick cooking spray. Cook pancakes for a few minutes on one side, flipping when bubbles start to form and pancakes start to rise. Cook an additional 2 minutes.

Eat!