Day 16 - March 9 - TTT

Introducing a new weekly segment: Tuesday Tips with a Trainer. One of my favorite gals at Bluewater Fitness is Brittany Stiles. She's a personal trainer, an instructor and former boxer (I LOVE that!) This gal will work you THROUGH but is SO knowledgeable and INCLUSIVE. This is what I love about her (that, and she's got a goofy sense of humor like I do!). No matter what your fitness level she doesn't leave anyone behind. She wants ALL of us to suffer. (Just a joke, folks!) Yesterday, after talking with her, I realized she was sharing a lot of information with me that would be great to pass along. I'm not sharing it till today though because I wanted to use all T's in the title. *g* THANK YOU to Brit for being a part of The BBE! (NOTE: What I write is not a direct quote from Brittany but what I'm putting together after our conversations. Brit, if there's anything that needs clarification, please add it to the comments below!)

Tuesday Tips with a Trainer: The less ingredients the better. We all know that the closer something is to its natural state, the better. The challenge though, is that we can be led to think something is the BEST for us when alternatives could even be BETTER. Take, for example, Cheerios. Cheerios is a GREAT cereal but when you look at organic cheerio-y cereal, the ingredients (ie preservatives) is cut by more than half! The chemicals aren't doing anything good for your body. Ideally, you want to get as close to ONE ingredient as possible but REALLY think twice about purchasing anything with more than 10 ingredients.

Meaningful Movement: 30 minutes of stepladder on treadmill, machines: quads and buns, 1 hour of zumba

Foods that fit in a baby bowl, Day 16:
-Lenten fast: breakfast
-Ruby Tuesday's yogurt parfait: vanilla yogurt, blackberry topping and granola
NOTE: This choice was HUGE for me. I REALLY wanted the triple shrimp sampler platter but was coming off my fast and decided I didn't want to spend the money or the bulk. You can find the parfait on their dessert menu.
-1 3/4 ounce bag of peanut m&m's
NOTE: I know this doesn't look great BUT this was the alternative after I was at the WalMart checkout and put BACK a family bag of Robin Eggs AND Easter peanut m&m's. I'll count this as a victory!
-whole grain tortilla wrap: ham, cheddar cheese, spinach, red onion and dill dip
NOTE: The whole time I was making this I was BEGGING that it would fit in my bowl. *g* You can get this AMAZING dill dip at WalMart in the refrigerated section near the deli. It's a dip but FANTASTIC as a sandwich spread.
-homemade hummus and 1/2 whole wheat pita
NOTE: If you have a toaster oven, this is the perfect way to heat pita for hummus. Cut the pita into triangles and set the toaster on medium high. When the pita comes out, split the triangle and it'll be crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside. UNbelievable with hummus!