Health and Diet Q+A PART 1 -

Tall Blonde Bell - Fashion + Lifestyle by My Health Tips - Ashley Bell @tallblondebell.com

What Do I Eat in a Day?

I made a blog post about this a while back. Click HERE to read the post. Some of the photos in that post are not showing up. I am going to fix it asap! I just wanted to make sure I answer this!

What kinds of supplements or vitamins do you take on a daily basis?

Multivitamin, A scoop of unflavored collagen powder in my coffee, and a LARGE glass of water. I am not big into protein powder and pre-workout. HOWEVER, every once in a while I will get on smoothie kicks. I linked the products I use as well as my favorite protein powder below.

What are some healthy food options on a budget?

Whenever I am looking for healthy recipes on a budget, I usually buy some sort of protein like chicken and pair it with a potato or grain (quinoa) with some sautéed veggies. I also LOVE buying frozen butternut squash noodles and making some sort of stir fry with them.

My Go To Healthy Stir Fry Recipe: (Sautee in a pan)

Butternut squash noodles or zucchini noodles (You can buy frozen at the grocery store)
Broccoli
Sugar Snap Peas
COOKED chicken
Everything but the Bagel Seasoning (found at Trader Joes)
Top with a touch Siracha Ranch when finished. (Found at Trader Joes)
Can be reheated up in microwave

During the wintertime, Michael and I LOVE soups. We usually will make a big bowl of healthy soup and it will last us a few days. We will eat a bowl of soup with some bread/or a salad depending on if we got our veggies in that day lol. One of my favorites is Buffalo Chicken Chili. The only “bad” ingredient is cream cheese, but there is not enough in there to make it bad. You can always take it out if you want, but we keep it in. Click HERE for the recipe.

How do I curb cravings and/or replace with a healthier alternative?

BEFORE I ANSWER THIS PLEASE READ: Artificial Sweeteners such as Splenda (sucralose), aspartame, sugar alcohol, sugar-free anything, etc actually INCREASE your sweet tooth craving. I watched a documentary about artificial sweeteners and it said that Splenda is 100X sweeter than regular sugar. This causes you to be de-sensitized to sweets and your body is used to things 10X sweeter than what naturally we are used to.

In college I had sugar-free EVERYTHING. I even remember almost everyday, getting an unsweetened sweet tea and adding 8 packets of Splenda in it. This resulted in me starting to have digestive issues. After this constant battle of always craving sweets, I learned so much of the negative side effects of artificial sweeteners. Cutting out artificial sweeteners was the turning point in my wellness. I no longer binge on sweets because my body now knows its limited as to what is too sweet. Yeah, eating real sugar has more calories than fake sugar, but I always ended up eating WAY more calories during the rest of the day when I ate foods with artificial sweeteners. DISCLAIMER: I will still get a diet coke at the movie theater every now and then, but I am more cautious of it now.

Below are examples of changes that I made:

INSTEAD OF Coffee with Splenda or Sugar Free Syrup >>>> I NOW DRINK coffee with real (organic) sugar or a latte with honey (ask them to froth the honey with the milk – it is SO GOOD)
INSTEAD OF Unsweetened Ice tea with sweetener>>>> I NOW DRINK Unsweetened ice tea with lemon or I do half and half (unsweet/sweet tea)

NOW, how do I curb craving/ what are healthy alternatives?

It is unrealistic to cut out sweets the rest of my life so I try to give myself something sweet each day. When I am at home and want something sweet, I will pour a (small) bowl of my favorite cereal with unsweetened vanilla almondmilk..and yes I am talking about the sugary ones. One cup of sugary cereal still has WAY less calories and fat than one cup of icecream. I also LOVE granola bars too!

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How to eat healthy on vacation:

If you read my meal plan post from above (or HERE) it is the same concept. I try to make 2/3 of my meals healthy with small healthy snacks in between. If I know I am going out somewhere nice for dinner, I will eat eggs for breakfast and some sort of light salad for lunch. If I plan on going out to brunch try to eat a salad for lunch and then a protein + potato/grain + veggie for dinner.

Healthy Road Trip Meals:

Chick Fil A
- 8 Count Grilled Chicken nuggets with a superfood salad
- If you’re REALLY craving the fries: then get a small fry with an 8 count grilled chicken nugget
- Spicy Southwest Salad with grilled chicken (The FF Honey Mustard dressing is one of the lowest calories options for you)
Arby’s
- Roast Beef sandwich with side salad
Panera
- You pick two: I try to make my combination under 550 calories
- Green Goddess salad is one of my FAVES and the mediterranean veggie sandwich
- The Bread is an additional 150 calories so if its lunch time Ill get an apple or opt for no additional side
Chipotle or Qdoba
- Salad with barbacoa (Chipotle) or Chicken (Qdoba) , a little bit of black beans, fajitta veggies, mild salsa, corn salsa, and then either sour cream or the dressing on the side
McDonald’s
- LUNCH: Mike and I’s secret favorite affordable lunch: The Southwest Salad with Grilled Chicken with balsamic vinaigrette dressing.
- BREAKFAST: Egg White Delight or egg Mcmuffin with a coffee
Starbucks
- BREAKFAST:
  - Spinach Feta wrap
  - Egg white bites,
  - Perfect bar. The peanut butter is my fave
- DRINKS:
  - Unsweetened green tea with 1-2 sugar on the raw
  - Unsweetened green tea with strawberry acai
  - Ice Coffee with a little sweet cream
  - Honey Latte (starbucks isn’t the best at making these, I usually skip)

Favorite on the go snacks:

Raw almonds
Larabar
Sugarsnap peas!!! FAVORITE EVERRRR YES IM WEIRD
Apple
Skinny Pop
Kinda weird but a boiled egg lol. Full of protein

Do I meal prep for breakfast, lunch, and dinner?

No because I work from home. HOWEVER I do love making crock pot chicken and it usually will last me the entire week for meals. Below is how you make it:
- Ingredients
  - Chicken Breasts
  - CHOOSE ONE LIQUID: a can of salsa, ranch season + buffalo sauce, or your favorite dressing
- Directions
  - Put chicken in crockpot and cover bottom with chicken broth or water.
  - Cook on low/high for 4/8 hours
  - Last hour add the liquid you chose and shred the chicken within the liquid
  - Chicken can be topped on black beans, on a salad, with rice, or in a wrap!

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Healthy eating tips

Don’t diet. When you’re just wanting food in a “glutonous” way, PRAY to God. He is sufficent!

How do I diet?, Do I count calories?, Intermittent Fasting, Macros, etc?

Let me be 100% straight with you. I DESPISE diets. Everything should be a lifestyle change. Rome wasn’t built in a day and torturing yourself for a few weeks by counting calories and starving yourself will only leave you burnt out.
I do not count calories. I view what I put in my body as a way of nourishing my body. I did the Whole30 two years in a row and this really changed my perspective on the purpose of food.
DISCLAIMER: I have a TON of friends who count their macros, have a specific meal plan, and do intermittent fasting. I 100% support them and do not think what they are doing something wrong. It’s just not for me. SEE NEXT BULLET POINT WHY
There are two types of people: People who need structure and people who get too stressed out from structure (Intuitive). I am a person who ends up getting so fixated on what I am eating when I’m under a specific diet. I usually make what I eat an idol and it’s not good. What has worked best FOR ME is to eat when I’m hungry. I don’t eat at the same time everyday (even though I usually am pretty close). Listening to my body was my biggest help!

Below are a few of the questions I plan on answering in my Fitness Q+A! (Expected to go live next week)