Superfood- The Mighty Almond

The mighty almond that could. Almonds are a high nutrient superfood packed with protein, 12 different vitamins & minerals, and fiber. Bet you didn’t know the last one. The 4 grams of fiber per ounce of almonds helps keep bellies feel fuller for longer.

Why are almonds my nutty superfood? It contains (per oz):

• Only 129 calories per oz or approx 23 almonds
• 4 grams of fiber
• 6 grams of Protein

Almonds are an excellent source of vitamin E, magnesium and manganese, and a good source of calcium, copper, phosphorous and riboflavin. Additionally they are a low GI (glycemic index) food.

• Promoting: healthy bones, blood sugar, cholesterol, and energy levels.
• Vitamins & minerals help to promote a glowing complexion and healthy hair

Availability of Almonds:

1. Raw  – Alone or in a nutty mix. Available as plain, roasted, salted, seasoned, slivered, blanched, & baked
2. Almond butter — Pure unsweetened, unsalted almond butter.  This stuff is quite addictive!
3. Almond Milk — As a substitute for milk in oatmeal, smoothies, milkshakes, baking, or to drink. Bottoms up.

My favorite way to eat almonds are plain roasted. I also have many variations of almond butter at home, I spread it on toast and enjoy for breakfast with a smoothie or tea quite often.

Check it out below, be sure to follow me on instagram at Shot of Green for my favorite eats and healthy ideas.

Celebrating Transformations & Getting Back on Track

I’ve been overjoyed because I’ve managed to reach my goal weight by eating healthy over the last two years. Its been a long journey but it doesn’t end here. It’s a lifestyle. I don’t plan to go back to eating fast food or anything  and everything that catches my fancy.

My before picture from 2010 is one of my heaviest weights at 150. It doesn’t seem like a lot, but I barely hit 5’1, and I struggled up one flight of stairs. I was in the worst state of my life physically and mentally. Today I weigh in at 105 lbs but have the same energy I did when I was in middle school. All due to clean eating, a simple gym routine, and a whole lot of motivation.

I might have reached my goal weight but I realized that it’s not about the numbers on the scale. The last few months I’ve been wanting to tone my body. Nothing drastic like being able to bench 100 something pounds. I just want add definition to my body. Heres the thing though, I’ve been pretty bad about hitting the gym recently. By recently I mean I haven’t been to the gym in a month. Insert cringe face. I don’t want to start spewing out excuses BUT I have a mostly legit excuse. I switched to working night shifts at the hospital. I work one full time job, 1 part-time job, and volunteer. Finding the time in my schedule to work-out seems nearly impossible. Its seems impossible but all I really need to do it find a way to schedule it in. So I’m going to start penciling in my fitness days. I’ve started the process of working out at home again I just need to make my way to the gym soon. Baby steps right?

On a brighter note I celebrated my success and partly out of necessity bought quite a few things for my wardrobe. Below is the haul from Express for which I’m finding ways to wear out! I also made good use of Poshmark to build up my wardrobe on a budget. What can I say, I just need a excuse to shop.

Haul of Organic Foods from iHerb & Discount Code

I was recently running a little low on a few pantry items and had my eye on a few new products. I like to use iHerb.com to order a lot of my products because they are always reasonably priced and it gets delivered to my door. I realized quickly that some things were just way to expensive to be buying at my local grocers despite having such a wide variety in Chicago.

iHerb.com offers groceries, supplements, bath and beauty items, kids/babies products, and many other range of items. I recommend getting all your pantry items and supplements here! Scroll down to see the discounts offered and a code I have available.

Here is what I picked up for this order

**Everything Ordered is Organic**

1)Flax Seed Meal

2) Buckwheat Flour

3) Oat Flour

4) Apple Cider Vinegar

5) Extra-Virgin Cold Pressed Coconut Oil

6) Unsweetened Coconut Milk

7) Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

8) Dried Cranberries

9) CocoCardio unsweetened (Cocoa, beet juice, and hibiscus flower powder)

10) Salted Sesame Sticks

11) Coco Butter Chapstick

12) Gummy Multivitamins

13) Toffee Chocolate (not pictured)

— everything for $52.. how great of a deal is that? If you are interested check them out at iHerb.com. They offer shipping worldwide and the code supplied can be used worldwide as well!

Discounts available:

• 1st time users: Use code RIM717 to get $10 off $40 or more of items or $5 off for smaller orders
• Free 3 day shipping for orders of $40 or more (always!)
• Plus they offer discounts (automatically applied) of 5% over any order over $60.
• Free Sample of your choosing from their sample tab

** Disclaimer: I am not paid or compensated for this post. The referral code given is my generated by iherb.com which is given to every customer to use**

Check-in for first week of April

Check-in

As of 4/1/2013

My height is 5’1 but then again that hasn’t changed since I was in 5th grade.

Weight: 117.5 pounds

Waist Circumference: ? Can’t find the measuring tape but I am down to a size 0 in jeans

Chest: 34

My waist despite wearing a size 0 has little to no tone and has fat padding in the middle. I can wear the size 0 because I have no hips, at all. While this is not my ideal weight or waist circumference I am proud of myself.   Two years ago my body was hidden behind baggy clothes and most days I ate until I was disgusted with myself. As I mention in my about me I had an array of problems and excuses. When I started the process of nursing school and started to learn more about nutrition, health, and the importance of eating right I started the first steps to my change. I was a 5’1 girl that weighed 148 pounds; I don’t know most of my measurements because I would never let that happen. The trouble was that I knew I was overweight I just didn’t realize how
much. Measurement wise I use to wear a 38DD, shirts sized large or extra-large, and I use to squeeze myself into skin tight jeans in a size 6 in which my stomach popped out over the top.

My achievements:

• I’ve been successful in eating healthy this week.
• I’ve made my own Chobani fruit yogurts to cut out the added sugars.
• Experimented with Quinoa recipes such as quinoa burgers
• Added tofu into my foods instead of meat
• Taken lunch to work every day these past two weeks
• Had breakfast everyday these past two weeks

My Goals:

• Eat healthy on my trip to Dallas this week—my family there does not believe in diet and I will be stuck in conference for 8 hours a day there. This will be my biggest challenge
• Work out at least 2-3 times this next week for at least 15 minutes. I’ve cut down on the time just because I will be staying with a family and have a very packed schedule. Maybe I can lift my baby cousin as strength training 😉 … seriously.
• Relax- My week starts with 9-10 hour work days this week and goes into flying to Dallas to live with my somewhat eccentric family and attend 2 days of very long conferences on health.

Here is a picture of my groceries this week, nice and green.

Anyone that would like to check –in?