Hi friends! I'm coming at you today with a really quick smoothie recipe. I started making this earlier in the week and it's too good not to share. Plus, when your workouts are extra tough - this mash-up of ingredients is excellent for recovery. Protein and dark cherries have been proven to aid in muscle recovery. This time of year when everyone is still sticking to their new workout resolutions (right ;)?), this smoothie is the perfect complement to that!

NEED:
- Whey protein powder (preferably organic/grass fed)
- 1/2-3/4 cup of frozen dark cherries and 1/4 cup of blueberries (antioxidants and anthocyanins)
- 1 scoop of almond butter (biotin, vitamin E, manganese, etc)
- Dash of cinnamon (more antioxidants!)
- Almond milk (try to find a brand without carrageenan - both Whole Foods and Silk offer almond milk without it.)

Blend and serve! Today, I topped it with some paleonola for a little extra crunch.

Enjoy and keep up the good work with those resolutions! xo

Hi everyone! How's it going with the sugar free challenge? I am VERY happy to report that there are 12 of you who have PUBLICLY joined the sugar-free challenge. Anyone else care to join us? If so, just comment on this blog post (below or on fb).

I promised to post some helpful tips so here's what I got:

1. Have you tried sugar free coffee? If it's not cutting it for you with just cream or milk... Try a cappuccino or my NEW personal favorite - an Americano. Rob re-introduced me to these last week and I must say that I even prefer it to cappuccino. It's just two espresso shots in hot water, but, for some reason... It's so good - really smooth!
(as a side note - sugar free does NOT mean the addition of splenda, sweet n low, equal or any of that other artificial shit)

2. Missing that sweet? I'm really enjoying organic berries or pineapple as a post lunch/dinner snackle. I've always loved berries and pineapple - my favorite fruits!

3. 70%+ cocoa dark chocolate is allowed - have you acquired a taste for it yet?

4. Remember, there are added sugars in some things that might not be as obvious of such as; salad dressing, ketchup, jam, NON-raw/natural peanut butter, and pretty much everything that is processed. Read your labels. The best substitute for dressing is just extra virgin olive oil and red wine vinegar or balsamic vinegar, or lemon juice. After a while, you'll start to prefer this dressing to anything else. For ketchup, buy organic. Heinz has high fructose corn syrup and regular corn syrup, because you know... the high fructose wasn't enough..............
Sigh... and of course, natural peanut butter, there should be only 1-2 ingredients: raw peanuts, salt. That's it. You can buy salt-free, as well.

5. Start paying attention to how you feel during and after workouts. Are you feeling better? That's motivation enough!

Moving on... I made another smoothie today. It was deeeelish. Here's the recipe:
- Cup of frozen mango
- 1 Banana
- 1 Tbs of Raw almond butter
- Tbs Ground flaxseed
- Tbs Chia seeds
- Water as needed to make it blend
- Couple dashes of cinnamon

QUESTION TIME: What other tips might you need? What part of the sugar free challenge do you think is the hardest? Any advice you can share with the rest of us?!

Have a great week! xo