6 Things That Will Stop Sugar Cravings

The number one reason that people crave sweets is that their insulin is high, and when it starts to fall we want the sugar to spike it  back up again. It’s a vicious cycle, that leads to feeling tired, and fatigued. Here are some really good tips that will get you back on track to being healthy and feeling energetic again.

1. Increase your protein intake: Often times our body feels like it wants sugar when it’s really craving protein. Try starting with an egg, or something that is high in protein.

2. Remove the temptations: If you don’t have them around the house it’s harder to indulge. If it’s at work that you’re having a hard time. Do what you can to remove the temptation BEFORE the craving hits. If you keep a jar of jelly beans on your desk. Get rid of them, but bring something healthy to eat when you are ready for a snack.

3. Eat frequently: Cravings are the worst when we’ve either skipped a meal, or we’ve had a drop in our blood sugar. By eating every few hours we avoid that drop in blood sugar. Eating 3 good meals a day with a snack in between will keep you feeling good without getting so hungry that you grab whatever you can find to get your blood sugar up.

4. Avoid artificial sweeteners:  Artificial sweeteners, like Saccharin or Aspartame, make us have more cravings for sweets, and may present a higher risk of cancer.

5. Better to Cut sweets cold turkey then indulge in small amounts: Because our insulin is so used to being high, the first 3 days are the hardest. If you can eliminate sweets completely until your body has had a chance to let your insulin come down, you won’t crave them like you did. Then you’ll be able to be satisfied with small amounts.

6. Drink Lemon Water: Lemon water can help reset your taste buds and stop that sugar craving.  You can also put cayenne pepper in the water (as much as you can handle). 

The times that I limit my sugar I feel so much better. It really is true that after you cut out sugar you don't crave it as much, and just little doses will do the trick!

Hopefully these tips can help you feel better and be healthier.

Weight-Loss Tips: Helpful tips to losing weight

Losing weight can be H.A.R.D (no that's not an acronym for something... I'm just emphasizing how hard it really can be!)  For some reason (especially with women) our fat likes to cling on for dear life. I'd like to tell fat this:  I know we are pretty awesome, so I understand why you'd be attracted to us but we'd be happier if you weren't there.  Please don't take it personally!

So there can be many reasons why you are not losing weight.  I can't tell you exact reasons without looking first at your diet and your lifestyle.  But here are a few tips to help you.

1. Don't be too hard on yourself.  Whatever weight you have put on probably took some time to get there.  So it's not going to fall off overnight. Be patient and keep working at it!

2. Don't Think Diet - Instead of thinking that you are on a diet, think of it as a lifestyle change.  Diets do not last, but lifestyles do.

2. Keep track of what you consume. Start writing down what you consume on an average day.  You'll probably figure out 1 of 2 things.  You are either consuming too much in 1 day (or too much at one meal) or you are actually not consuming enough, which believe it or not does happen.

3. Enlist the help of family and friends. It's all about accountability!  Find a friend, family member or group to help keep you accountable and motivated!

4. Pay attention to portions. Something inside our brains says we must eat everything on our plates (maybe we get that from childhood when our parents told us we had to!)  Start with a smaller portion than you might think, drink more water and let your food settle.  You'll be surprised what fills you up!

5. Clean out your pantry and refrigerator. Get rid of the temptation!  If it's there I guarantee you it'll be even harder to stay away from it.  Just remove it!  It's best for everyone!

6.  Avoid Hunger!!! Try to eat every 2.5-3 hours.  If you wait too long to eat you will be more tempted to eat too much and probably eat the wrong things. 

7. Hydrate before meals. Drink lots of water before a meal to fill yourself up.  Sometimes our body is telling us we are hungry when really it is just thirst.  Drink a lot at meals and you will fill up much quicker and end up eating less.

8. Drink Lemon water.  Lemon water can be a great way to remove that sugar craving you might be having.  Trust me it really works at resetting your taste buds. 

9. After 8 is too late.  Or is it?  It's not so much about indulging after dark as it is about how much and what you are consuming.  Truth be told getting most of your calories during the day is ideal.  However, many of us don't go to sleep right after dinner so feeling a little hungry closer to bedtime is completely natural. So is raiding the fridge really that bad? Not if you limit your intake to less than 150 calories. Don't go for the ice cream or cake either. Go for something unprocessed like fruit or cereal.  I prefer a handful of nuts to curb my appetite.  And water!  Lots of water!  (great for late night peeing!)  :)

10. Treat yourself occasionally. You will be less likely to completely go off the food deep end if you allow yourself some treats on occasion.  I mean come on.  You have been working hard, you deserve it!  But really make sure to limit that to certain occasions.  Desert right after diner because it's been a rough day is probably not the best occasion.  If you can learn how to treat yourself occasionally you will find, down the road, that a little is really all you need to curb that sweet tooth!

11. Get plenty of sleep. This is the hardest for me but so important!  When you sleep, your brain catalogues the previous day's experiences, primes your memory, and triggers the release of hormones regulating energy, mood, and mental acuity. To complete its work, the brain needs 7 to 8 hours of sleep. When it gets less, your concentration, creativity, mood regulation, and productivity all take a hit.

12. Cut out liquid calories. When you drink liquid calories (soda, juice, alcohol, etc) it is so much easier to go over your daily calorie intake because they don't make you full (nor do they have any nutrition in them).  Just like treats try to keep these at occasional.

13.  Keep produce on hand.  Eat regular meals and snacks. Make sure you have some protein foods such as yogurt, tuna, beans or chicken for most meals. Research suggests that protein helps you feel full longer.

15. Reward yourself!  This goes without saying! 

For even more great tips (some already mentioned) go to Dr. Oz's 100 Weight Loss Tips http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/dr-ozs-100-weight-loss-tips

We ARE the Bad Mudders!

You really didn't think I wouldn't write a blog about the Tough Mudder now did you!?!  :)

So pretty much any race, any obstacle, anything that pushes me out of my comfort zone I LOVE!

I know it's a sickness, but the harder the better!  I mean seriously, what is more rewarding than pushing your body to the absolute limit and accomplishing something mentally and physically challenging?

So, 9 months ago my husband and I signed up to do the Tough Mudder.

The pure fact that Seth wanted to do something like this with me was reason enough to be excited (you see, he's never done a race with me before).

Before I go on, the Tough Mudder is not a race (right Zack!).  It is a challenge.... But who am I kidding...  Everything is a race to me!

Right away we started recruiting people for our team.  Team Bad Mudders!

Here's our team... Zack and Nicole, TJ and Julie, Nate and Cheryl and Seth and I.  And that dude on the upper left is not a creeper that's our good buddy Shaun who was apart of a different team.

 So if you don't know anything about the Tough Mudder it is a 10 mile obstacle course with 20 different challenges throughout the course.  Not to mention the hills that we had to climb all throughout.

Just one of the MANY hills!









Here are a few pictures to give you a good idea of all the obstacles we had to go through.  I took all of these off Tough Mudder website, so you won't see us in any of the pictures.  However, we did get some sweet picture and video on a go pro, so hopefully I'll be able to share those soon!

First obstacle, mud, water and barbwire!


Followed by water and electric shock!


Third was the wall climb.

 Other obstacles were wall scaling, drop the plank (eeek!), rings, and half pipe!

Lots more climbing, and crawling through tubes and water.



















More barbwire and mud (lots and lots of mud!), and of course more electric shock!

And finally monkey bars, snow, logs and ice!


Take a look at the picture on the bottom left.  That's a dumpster filled with water and ice.  Throughout the day they are constantly adding ice. 

This was the coldest water I have ever been in.  I guarantee you that the majority of the participants had a look of pure terror as they jumped in and swam through!  I know our whole team did!

So proud of my team.  It was an incredible day!  Slightly bummed that it is over and I have to wait until next year to do it again (oh, you better believe I'm doing it next year!). 

Love these girls!

And these goofy guys!














I made this little image to show how incredibly proud I am of my teammates!  We really could not have done it without each other!  Until next year Bad Mudders!

Let's Talk Food! The Best Paleo Meatballs You've Ever Had!

First off this is NOT my recipe.  But I just HAVE to share it!  I want to eat these every single night of my life.  Okay, maybe not I'll get sick of them if I do! 

I could have easily posted the site where I got the recipe, but I modified mine so much that I thought I'd share the blog where I got it, but also my version.  Because seriously, that's what I do best.  Take a recipe and add or change it to fit to my liking!  Seriously the only way to cook.  It's not fun following the rules!  :)

When I cook a lot of times I have an idea in mind of what I want to make (I knew I wanted to make meatballs with almond flour in them, cause I LOVE almond flour) and when I googled that this recipe came up.  I tweaked a little, and added a little.  Seriously, you will love these!  If you don't have almond flour I'm sure you can leave it out, but I don't think it will be the same. 

ENJOY!

Picture from Betty Rocker blog 

You can view the original recipe here: Betty Rocker

Paleo Turkey Meatballs
Yield: 16 meatballs - I would recommend making a double batch.  That's what I did and I was SO happy to have leftovers! 

1 lb ground turkey (I buy my turkey from Sam's and the packages are 2lbs so that's why I doubled)
1/2 cup almond flour (YUM!!!!!!!!!!!!)
2 Egg Whites
1 small red onion (because that's what I had!)
1/2 cup baby carrots, grated
Garlic Salt - I just threw it in there.  I used that because I didn't have garlic
Dried Parsley and Basil - I did not have fresh.  I just threw a bunch in there!
Fresh black pepper to taste
Turkey Bacon - The recipe did not call for turkey bacon, but it sounded soooo good.  So I went out on a limb!

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Chop up the veggies and throw them in your blender. 
3. Add everything into a bowl (because I'm too impatient to add the ingredients separately!  Just throw it all in there!)
4. Use your hands to mix everything together
5. Form meat mixture into meatballs with your hands and place on a cookie sheet that you have sprayed
6. Cut your strips of thawed turkey bacon in half and put 1 half on top of each meatball
7. Bake for 35-40 minutes.

You will be drooling the whole time it is cooking because it smells to delicious!  Seriously, I can't wait to make these again.  We ate them with salad and it was perfect!

Hope you like them!