I recently stumbled upon Giuliana's website and was delighted to find a blog dishing on her health and fitness secrets. It was so much great info that I couldn't resist tell you all about it!In lieu of copying and pasting the entire entry, I will take out snippets. If you want to read the entire entry, please go here.
She puts cayenne pepper and lemon juice in her water
"When I get to the office, first thing I do is take a water bottle and sprinkle some cayenne pepper (just a tiny pinch...if you go overboard, it will be impossible to drink) and I squeeze the juice from half a lemon (save the other half for later.) The cayenne and lemon combo totally revs up your metabolism and gets it going."
She sips "oolong" tea
She sips hot green or oolong tea (teagarden.com) from Dr. Tea's Garden. They sell various slimming teas like oolong and another he made for her called Ti Kwan Yin Oolong. She drinks two to three cups a day.
She says "Coffee can actually hold onto fat whereas green and oolong tea flushes fat out (love that)."
She drinks a tea called Yerba Mate
"I boil a pot of it at night and put it in a tall glass or pitcher and let it cool down in the fridge overnight. In the morning, I start drinking it right when I wake up so that I have energy by the time I get to the gym. Yerba Mate can be found online or at grocery stores and most brands are good. I love it because it is a NATURAL source of great energy perfect before a workout."
She eats organic grapefruit
"This is an amazing fruit that helps keep you regular and also helps flush out fat."
She loves a good breakfast
"I have either an egg white omelet with veggies and herbs (i like to add things like spinach (always) mushrooms, asparagus, broccoli, onions, cilantro, herbs, and tomatoes, sometimes a little grilled chicken breast or turkey breast) I alternate veggies depending on what I'm in the mood for but I always do spinach.
So good for you. And I ALWAYS say NO BUTTER, NO OIL...instead tell them to cook it in a light mist of Pam cooking spray. Tell them your allergic to butter so that they don't slip it in there like a lot of places do. If they don't have Pam spray, then tell them to use just a DROP or two of Oil!!! If you don't like omelets, you can also do the same ingredients in a scramble or a frittata...once again, Pam spray or a drop of oil...NO BUTTER!!!
( I guess she really doesn't ever eat butter!)
She snacks
"Between breakfast and lunch, my favorite snack in the world is Kashi's TLC bars in Honey Almond Flax or Cherry Dark Chocolate."
Lunch time ideas
"I get a rotisserie chicken breast and I eat around the skin or just peel it off and toss it out before I take one bite. The skin is full of fat and nasty for you! I get a large side of steamed broccoli on the side."
"Lately, I've been bringing my own frozen veggies to work and making them in the microwave. I prefer broccoli, asparagus, cauliflower, spinach, red and green peppers. Then I sprinkle some bottled herbs on them and I have a yummy lunch. I follow lunch with an apple or another grapefruit OR I will have another Kashi bar to get some whole grain carbs in there if I am craving carbs."
Healthy dinner options
"I love sushi so I try to eat at sushi restaurants that serve brown rice sushi (call around...more and more sushi joints are doing this)."
"When I go to restaurants, I try to order dishes like grilled chicken breast, grilled fish like halibut, all types of white fish, salmon, hay tuna. I always order steamed veggies, no butter and no oil. if they can't steam them then tell them you want a touch of oil...stress a touch...otherwise your veggies will be swimming in a pool of oil!!! You can't go wrong with ordering grilled fish and steamed veggies."
Sugary delights!
"I order berries after dinner or some sort of fruit. Your body and mind registers the (healthy) sugar and your craving goes away!!! I used to be obsessed with Frozen Yogurt but I found that it is better on your body and weight to have a scoop of real ice cream than a cup of frozen yogurt since the fro yo is all chemicals and your body doesn't digest it properly."
Sometimes, she cheats (don't we all)
"I will enjoy the "cheat" food by having a little bit of it and giving the rest away. For instance, if i just MUST have pasta, I will let my husband order it and have some bites of his. Or I will order a healthy dish and ask for a half order of the pasta (no cream, ever!) on the side. I will eat half of the side of pasta and pass the rest around the table so my friends can try it to. That way you are impressing the table with your generosity and cutting lots of calories:) "
A little advice on artificial sweeteners
"I stopped putting all artificial sweeteners into my body. My taste buds have totally changed and now I don't need sweeteners at all on my food. If something calls for sugar, I opt for a little natural honey...but even that is rare. Or sometimes I sprinkle Stevia (all natural sugar substitute) on my cereal or greek yogurt if I need that extra sweetness, but once again, that is rare since I overcame my sugar cravings!"
Her best advice?
"The secret to losing or maintaining weight and being healthy is to never go hungry. Anytime I'm hungry, I munch on a Kashi TLC bar (even half and put the other half away for a later snack) or I have an apple, grapefruit or some strawberries, or I have a veggie juice from a health store/bar."
Since I'm obsessed with tea, I loved all of her tea suggestions. I'm probably going to order some online. What do you think of Giuliana's tips?Before I go, here is my OOTD on a casual Friday at work:
Top- Forever 21; Sweater- White House Black Market; Jeans- American Eagle Artist Jeans.
I really love my new jeans! I love how they fit and how they have stretch in them (makes them so comfy!)
Hope you all have a wonderful weekend! More posts to come!
xoxo,
Veronika.