Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Homemade Gift Idea: Nutritious Granola Mix!

I'm always on the hunt for a good DIY gift idea, whether for Christmas or birthdays.  I'm definitely the crafty-sort!  I like giving people gifts that are personal and custom to their tastes.

This recipe is no exception, the rich, nutty flavours speckled with jewel-toned dried fruits make a tasty breakfast with yogurt or an easy snack on the go.  And it makes a ton of it!  Let me know if you try it and like it! :)




Thursday, November 24, 2011

Easy Mediterranean Quinoa Salad

I freaking love this recipe.  It's really good warm or cold, totally up to you.  It also keeps really well in the fridge so you can have it all week!





Quinoa Salad 
Adapted from here

2 cups chicken stock
1 clove garlic, smashed
1 cup uncooked quinoa
2 large cooked chicken breasts - cut into bite size pieces
1 red onion (optional, Chris hates onion)
1/2 cup chopped kalamata olives
1/2 cup of tomatoes, cucumbers (or any vegetables you like)
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/4 cup chopped fresh chives
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
  1. Bring the chicken stock and garlic to a boil. Stir in the quinoa, reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the quinoa is tender and the water has been absorbed, 15 to 20 minutes. Discard the garlic clove and scrape the quinoa into a large bowl.
  2. Gently stir the chicken, onion, veggies, olives, feta cheese, parsley, chives, and salt into the quinoa. Drizzle with the lemon juice, balsamic vinegar, and olive oil. Stir until evenly mixed. Serve warm or refrigerate and serve cold.
If you try this recipe, let us know!

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Tips for HealthIER Holiday Eating

We get so many questions from people asking how they can stick to their diet during Christmas or Thanksgiving.  With the mounds of stuffing and glistening gravy in front of you, its hard not to stuff yourself into a coma!  Here are a few tips to balancing your meals and not going overboard during the holidays.


Sunday, October 2, 2011

Gym Jam - What's on my iPod Fall 2011

Warm-up (5 minutes)

Tonight Tonight
Hot Chelle Rae 


Rabiosa (feat. Pitbull)
Shakira - Sel el Sol


Cardio (20-30 minutes)

Monday, September 26, 2011

Quick & Easy Vegetarian Kale Soup

After deciding that I needed to branch out a bit a try new foods, I landed on the delicious and nutritious kale.  This is recipe number 1 and it was a success!  It was super easy to do, full of nutrients and you can make it ahead of time.  Lots of lunches for school and work :) Enjoy!



Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Yummy School Snack/Breakfast: Healthy Wholegrain Muffins

These are by FAR my favourite muffins of all time.  I make them often and eat them for snacks or for a quick breakfast as I'm running out the door.  Let me know if you've tried the recipe and what you think! :)


Wholegrain Raspberry Chocolate Chip Muffins
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2 eggs
2/3 C Brown sugar

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Healthy School Lunches: Yummy Chicken Tomato Soup!

I made this for dinner one night, hoping to have leftovers for the lunch the next day.  The boys had 6 servings between the 2 of them, (despite being full after the first bowl, tsk tsk) because they loved it so much!


Click to continue...

Friday, September 9, 2011

School Lunches: Rachel's Favourite Sandwich!

I am seriously in love with this sandwich.  I just ate it again today.  Just make sure you keep it cool with an ice pack!

Chicken Sandwich a la Rachel



click to continue...

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

School Snack Ideas

Everyone around me seems to be heading back to school: Taryn is off to do her fancy phD, my sister-in-laws are heading off to university, high school and elementary school.  I feel like I'm missing all the fun back to school shopping!  But then I remember all the exam cramming and report writing... maybe I don't miss school so much.

To make your life a little bit easier, I've been brainstorming some ideas for easy snacks you can pack and take with you when you're in the middle of class and hunger punches you right in the kidneys.  Or stomach.  Whatever.

Let us know in the comments below what YOUR favourite healthy snacks are for school!

click to continue for the recipe!

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Simple, Easy, Healthy - Back to School Snack!

Here's a healthy chickpea recipe that you can follow on Sunday nights. 

Ingredients: 
1 can of chickpeas - drained and rinsed thoroughly 
3 tablespoons of vegetable oil 
2 dashes of table salt
1 tsp of black pepper
+ your own spices. I add cayenne pepper and cajun spices (I like spicy!)

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Detox Yoga

Remember avoid these exercises if you have back, neck or shoulder pain. Ask a doctor before making any changes to your regular fitness routine.


King of the fish pose - Ardha Matsyendrasana 
  • Targets your liver and kidneys
  • Stretches the shoulders, hips and neck
  • Stimulates the digestive fire in your belly
click to continue...

Monday, August 22, 2011

Simple, Fresh, Delicious - Detox Lunch/Dinner

One of my favourite (and vegetarian!) detox meals. Let me know what you think!

Makes 2 servings

Ingredients:
  • 2 tbsp of oil (sunflower, olive or canola)
  • 2 cloves of garlic (minced)
  • 1/2 an onion (cut into strips)
  • 2 ears of corn 
  • 3 cups green beans
  • 2 tbsp of plain goat's cheese
  • 1/2 a tomato or 1/4 cup of diced cherry tomatoes
  • Fresh dill to taste
click to continue...

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Detox Grocery List

The first step in beginning a detox program is to detox your HOME! Here are some general guidelines about how to live in a healthy home:


Next up! Grab your reusable grocery bags, its time to go grocery shopping! While shopping, stick to the outside perimeter of the grocery store. Make sure to hit up the organic section, if your local store has one, and pick up some essential gluten-free items. Even better than the grocery store, if you town or city has a local farmer's market, make sure to pop in for a brief 'holla' to save boat loads of money on fresh, organic and local produce. NOMS!

Here's what to purchase for your detox:

Click to continue...

Delicious Detox Dinner!

Vegetarian, Low-Carb, Fresh, Detox Stir Fry! 


Recipe:

1 clove(s) garlic, raw
0.25 large Onion, raw
1 spear(s) broccoli, raw
2 medium Carrot, raw
5 piece(s) Mushroom, brown, Italian (crimini), raw
2 medium stalk(s) celery, raw
2 cup(s) cabbage, raw
2 tbsp(s) Vegetable oil, sunflower, linoleic (60% & over)
4 head(s) Bok choy, pak-choi, raw

1. Heat your wok or pan over low-medium heat.
2. Add sunflower or canola oil.
3. Add in garlic and onion until onion is translucent.
4. Add it harder vegetables first: broccoli, carrot, celery and cabbage.
5. Add in 1/4 cup of water and cover.
6. Add in softer vegetables: mushroom and celery.
7. Add 1 cup of water and cover.
8. Stir occasionally.
9. Add in baby bok choy pieces and cover for 3 minutes until they turn bright green.
10. Add your favourite low-sodium soya sauce, pepper, cayenne pepper, oyster sauce or terriyaki sauce (be careful, these commonly have gluten hiding within the ingredients list!)

Serve immediately and store extras in a tight zip lock container.

Enjoy!

Nutritional Information (based upon recipe analysis from EaTracker.ca)


205.3
8.7
14.3
26.2
13.7
10.5
2136.4
401.1
0.0
0.0
0.4
0.7
7.8
591.6
1.8
0.0
924.4
7.2
593.5
2445.5

Monday, July 18, 2011

6 Day Detox - The Rules

Beginning on a Sunday and finish on Friday night so you are ready to go for your event on a Saturday.

Here's what's being cut out of my diet for the next 6 days:

  • Increasing water intake.
  • Increasing green tea intake.
  • Decreasing caffeine that's derived from coffee, chocolate and energy drinks. 
  • Decreasing carbonated beverages including soda pop, sparkling waters as well as fruit juices (too much white sugar!)
  • Including raw fruits and/or vegetables with every meal. 
  • Decreasing sugar and salty snacks, replacing them with fresh fruit or roasted soy beans or chic peas. 
  • Eliminate white sugars and artificial sweeteners (even though they are low-calorie, there are far too many health risks associated with them)
  • Limit the amount of meat, especially those that are frozen or ground chuck (they are drenched in sodium and are often fatty).
  • Eliminate frozen foods. Go for fresh fruits and vegetables! 
  • Eliminate trans fats. 
  • Eliminate fast food! Too many fast food restaurant meals are high in white sugars, unnecessary calories, saturated and trans fats and have waaaaay too much salt/sodium! Ick. 
The purpose of this detox is to take a break from the unhealthy foods you've been bingeing on and replace your meals with meals, which your body will actually benefit from. The recipes will be posted daily on our blog (www.rachhfit.blogspot.com) as well as on our dailybooth account (www.dailybooth.com/rachhfit). Follow me on Twitter to find out great ideas for cardio (@RachhFit) and keep up to date with all our detox reviews and recommendations on www.YouTube.com/RachhFit


-   

Monday, July 4, 2011

What's on my iPod? July Jams

Its been a while since I did one of these, so I thought I'd let you know how I've updated my IPod!

Warm up


Who Says
Selena Gomez & The Scene


Super Bass
Nicki Minaj 


I Wanna Go
Britney Spears



Click to continue...

Friday, June 24, 2011

Juicing - Day 3

Carrot-Green Pepper
 
Okay so this has been by far the worst tasting anything ever.  Gagged numerous times trying to drink it.  Probably doesn't help that I dislike green peppers.  Chris thought both Lauren and I were wusses and had no problem finishing ours off.

Ingredients
6 carrots
1/2 green pepper
1 handful of rolled up kale leaves

Look: Pale orange with a green tinge.
Texture: Pretty much entirely liquid.
Taste: Disgusting.  Sad because I love carrots but this was ga-ross!

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Juicing - Day 2

Cucumber Apple

This is my first attempt at a vegetable juice.  It wasn't too bad though - very healthy that's for sure!  Very good to help cleanse your liver.

Ingredients
1 cucumber
1 apple
2 tsps of fresh parsley (roll up a big bunch into a ball so the machine will juice it properly!)

Look: It's... green.  That is all
Texture: Liquid... I could taste a TINY bit of cucumber pulp but that was it.
Taste: I did not particularly like it.  BUT I included the skin of the cucumber, which you apparently aren't supposed to do because it has a very bitter taste.  I'll keep you posted when I try one without the skin!

Let me know in the comments what your favourite juicing recipe is and maybe I'll try it this week! :)

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Adventures in Health: Juicing - Day 1

Hey girls!

So in my attempt to be healthier (especially after my trip to Texas) I decided to do a little research on juicing.  What would be easier than downing a glass consisting of 10 carrots, an apple and 2 stalks of celery?  Vegetables intake for the day = DONE!  Right? ... Right?

Although not an expert, I did do a bit of research on the topic and here are the 3 primary benefits of juicing:

Click to continue...

Monday, June 20, 2011

What I Ate Today (Rachel)

Taryn and I get a ton of requests every day to show you guys what we eat. So here's my version of what I eat in a day!

Breakfast
I'm a big breakfast eater, I can eat a soon as I wake up (and often my tummy wakes me up early to eat!).

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

What I Eat in a Day!

Although we have a dailybooth account (www.dailybooth.com/RachhFit) Rachel and I were thinking to ourselves, hey! We vlog an entire day of what we eat and why...unfortunately Rach went to Texas and I went to work and so I wasn't able to complete a vlog...so here's a BLOG!

This is what I would eat on a typical weekday. And its not to say that every day is perfectly balanced. Some evenings I will have icecream or chips because I feel like it. My mindset is that you should never restrict yourself of something, unless it is horribly unhealthy for you, because your craving will get even bigger and stronger! So when I do eat chips, popcorn, icecream, chocolate or candy (mmmm...swedish berries...) I try my best to eat "in moderation." Meaning I consciously eat and watch my serving sizes so I don't over do it.

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Get RID of Cellulite?!


Ugh. Gross. Seriously? REALLY?! COME ON!

It’s that time of year again! We put on our bikinis and stare blankly at ourselves in the mirror. Although we are young, confidence, intelligent and beautiful inside and out, we may a little tiny thing that’s called cellulite. Not everyone who has cellulite, but for those of us that do (yes! Even I have it) we can feel uncomfortable or self-conscious in our bikini bods. So, this blog is dedicated to talking about WHY we have cellulite, WHAT it is and HOW to get rid of it or reduce its appearance. The NEXT BLOG will talk about how to be CONFIDENT in your own skin, no matter what your body shape or size. We are who we are and 


click to continue...

Friday, June 3, 2011

Berry Delicious Recipes!

Yes... I'm quite behind on this one... but here are some of my favourite berry recipes from our May FOTM!



May is here! And so this DELISH Food of the Month...

Mmm... I always get so excited for spring and summer to come JUST so I can taste these delicious fruits...

BERRIES!!!!

There are so many amazing kinds to choose from, its so hard to pick just one!  Here are a few great options and one fun fact about each.  Which one has amazing anti-aging properties?  Watch our video to find out!

Easy Portion Control Tips

Now I know we always say "calories in < calories out" but sometimes its hard to guess how many calories are in our foods when companies are distorting portions or not divulging them at all!  Here are some easy tips you can use at home to get you started:

Monday, May 23, 2011

Lose those Lovehandles!

So, if you haven't noticed yet, I'm just going to lay it on the line and let you know that, yes, I am a nerd. And as a nerd, I never take anything at face value. Meaning, if someone were to say "eat 5 apples a day to help lose your lovehandles" I would ask "what is it in apples that helps oxidize fat?" Yeah. Nerd-esque I know! So what I've done for you in this blog is explain what lovehandles are. Why they develop. And how to get rid of them, with specific tips and tricks.

What are lovehandles?

Lovehandles are located above your iliac crest (hip bone) and are excess adipose (fatty tissue) that collects over top of your oblique muscles (part of your core muscles).

Carrying excess fat around our waist isn't just a body image concern, because we all hate the way they fall over the back of our jeans, but large lovehandles and excess abdominal fat can lead increase your risk of developing serious health risks like: cardiovascular disease, diabetes and high blood pressure (hypertension).

BREATHE! Don't worry if you have small lovehandles! Everyone carries excess fat! It can be a good thing!

Click to continue...

Monday, May 9, 2011

Taryn's Running Blog

'I'm NOT a Runner!'
So, as you may have heard, my goal for 2011 is to participate in a 'try-a-tri,' which essentially, a mini triathlon. Watch the video here:




I am happy to announce that I did reach my cycling goal and can ride 10 km in under 30 minutes! Yahoozahs! But now my focus has changed to the try-a-tri's run. Before getting into detail, let's get one thing straight. I am NOT a runner. Nope, not at all.

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

DIY: Easy Bra Strap Head Band

Step #1: Choose a bra strap from a strapless bra that you no longer use! 


Sunday, April 24, 2011

PromFit - Burn Calories FAST!

Interval Training Worksheet

Print this worksheet or copy and paste the table below to track your progress through the workout found at:


What you’ll need
Stop watch (on your iPod) or wrist watch
Yoga Mat (if you are on carpet)
Water
Your printed out interval training sheet
Pen/Pencil
Towel
Positivity

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

What's on my IPod...Spring Edition!

What's on my IPod?
SPRING EDITION!

Warm Up

Anyway you want it 
Journey

Hit the Lights
Jay Sean - feat. Lil Wayne

Moment 4 Live
Nicki Minaj & Drake 

I Need a Doctor
Dr. Dre feat. Eminem & Skylar Grey

Cardio

Best Love Song
T-Pain feat. Chris Brown

Give me Everything
Pitbull feat Ne-Yo, Afrojack & Nayer 

Lovesick
Emily Osment

Jumpstart
These Kids Wear Crowns

That Ain't Classy
Classified 

Blow
Ke$ha

Till the World Ends
Britney Spears

3
Britney Spears


SOS
Jordin Sparks


For Your Entertainment
Adam Lambert


He Said She Said
Ashley Tisdale


On the Floor
Jennifer Lopez ft. Pit Bull


Party Rock Anthem
LMFAO


E.T.
Katey Perry ft. Kayne West


Written in the Stars
Tinie Tempah ft. Eric Turner 

Muscle Targeted Workout

Top of World 
The Cataracs feat. Dev 

Rolling in the Deep
Adele- 21

Price Tag
Jessie J 

Let's Play
Kristina Maria


Hollywood
Marina & The Diamonds 


Just Can't Get Enough
Black Eyed Peas

Stretch

Somewhere Over the Rainbow/It's a Wonderful World
Israel Kamakawiwo'ole

Breakdown
Jack Johnson 

Shake Me Down
Cage the Elephant 

For the First Time
The Script 

The Cave
Mumford and Sons <-- My fav this Month <3 

Monday, April 18, 2011

It's April! We're Cooking! WATCH OUT!

Yumm... if you watched our video on our special Food of the Month (*cough* check out the video below)



Now we're back with yummy and delicious recipes using this tasty veggie!  Check out the recipes below :)


The Recipes!

Guacamole
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Guacamole/Detail.aspx
Ease to prepare: A
Taste: A

Cucumber Fennel Salsa
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Fennel-Cucumber-Salsa/Detail.aspx
Ease to prepare: A
Taste: C+ (I wouldn't use so much fennel again as a salad topper... and I'd also chop the pieces smaller!)

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

What I ate Today (Work Lunches)

Here's a quick and easy recipes for lunches you can take to school or your workplace, if it has a microwave! 


Teriyaki Fried Rice


What you'll need:
- 1 cup of wild or brown rice
- 1 tablespoon of butter
- 2 cups of water
- extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
- 2 cloves of garlic chopped
- 1/2 red onion chopped
- 1/2 red pepper chopped
- 1/2 zucchini 
- 1 head of broccoli chopped
- 1/2 bottle of teriyaki sauce 


In a medium sized pot, combine rice, butter and water. Bring to boil. Stir occasionally. Simmer over medium-low heat until water is absorbed. 


In a large frying pan, add 2 tbsp of EVOO and warm the pan over medium-high heat. Add garlic and onion. When garlic and onion are soft, add in red onion, broccoli, zucchini and any additional vegetables you would like i.e. mushrooms, sprouts, olives or bok choy.  





When vegetables are tender-crisp, add in rice. 
Fold in teriyaki sauce or soya sauce or the sauce of your choice.



Divide into smaller portions and refrigerate . 






For a side snack: BAKED CHICK PEAS *noms*


For this you will need
- olive oil 
- 1 can of chick peas
- salt and pepper 
- cayenne pepper


Pre-heat your oven to 425 Degrees. Empty chick peas into a strainer and run under cold water for up to 5 minutes (get them clean!). Add chick peas, olive oil (as much as you need to coat chick peas), salt, pepper and cayenne pepper (for a kick of heat!) to a medium mixing bowl. Coat chick peas by stirring the mixture. Place chick peas on a baking sheet. If available to you, add chick peas to a terra-cotta baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes. Flip chick peas. Bake for an additional 15 minutes or under desired crispness is met. Put in a re-sealable container and enjoy for an afternoon snack throughout the week! 


*This is a great substitute for chips and crisps. :)