Know the phrase, "Eat to live, not live to eat?" Well I fall in the category of live to eat. That doesn't work in conjunction with a healthy lifestyle. I am a picky eater, but I love to eat and usually that means choosing unhealthy options.
I used to live off of cheese, pasta, microwaveable meals, fruit, and take-out. I rarely ate protein unless we went out to eat. I don't like to cook mainly because when I'm hungry I want to eat immediately. I don't want to take 30 mins to prep and cook a meal. So I ate unhealthy, fast meals instead. When I thought about eating clean, I thought that it would never be an option for me because it would taste gross and would take too long. So when Ryan and I started our workout program that involved eating with portion containers, at first we ate pretty bland simple meals. Cottage cheese, plain chicken, an english muffin, carrots, etc. You get my point. It was BORING and hard to stick to. All I wanted was pizza and pasta. Needless to say, I didn't stick with the meal plan after we did our first round of 21 day fix. I told Ryan that I wasn't going to live my life not enjoying food and that there needed to be a balance. I'm sure you guys have this problem too...when you go from not eating anything yummy on your diet to letting yourself have cheat meals, it becomes increasingly more difficult not to cheat. Ryan and I are in a slump right now with eating more cheat meals than we should. We are working to get back to a healthier balance and I know you can too. It may be easier for you to always have a small treat to ensure that you don't overdo it with the extras. Or it may be easier for you not to eat any cheat meals to keep you on track. When Ryan and I get to the point of eating out every weekend and eating as much movie food as we can, we need to cut out all dates that include food, until we are back on track. That's where we are right now.
Since we have had a hard time sticking to clean eating, we started trying to find healthy recipes that would satisfy our cravings without compromising our desire to live a healthier lifestyle. We have found a multitude of great ones that we love! And they can be used if you are trying to portion control like with 21 Day Fix. Some of our favorite meals include; spagetti squash or quinoa pasta instead of regular pasta, cauliflower faux-tatoes instead of regular mashed potatoes, banana pancakes, steak or turkey fajitas, hamburgers on boston lettuce instead of a bun, and italian wedding soup. These are just a few of the recipes we have come across to help keep us on track. And the best part? They taste GOOD!!!!!!!
A lot of the recipes we love and/or have adapted to our liking have come from Autumn Calabrese's Fixate cookbook. There are so many options for desserts and meals that we haven't even tried yet. I highly recommend it. You can also find recipes on Pinterest, or just by googling 21 Day Fix recipes. Nothing makes me happier than finding a recipe that feels like I'm having a cheat meal, but I'm eating clean. Our goal is to find a way to eat healthy without feeling like it so it's easier to stay on track. That's something we hope to help you with too.
Interested in some of our recipes? We will be posting our favorite recipes on our website and would love you to try them! We'd also love to hear from you about different recipes that work for you and fit within the 21 Day Fix portion control meal plan. Our first recipe we want to share with you is our favorite tzatziki sauce. Great for dipping or using as a substitute for mayo/dressings/etc and it counts as 1/2 a red (protein).
See our video below for the recipe: