Healthy Eats: Balsamic Thyme Butternut Squash

Nature’s carbohydrate sources are the best you can add to your diet. Just 1 cup of Balsamic Thyme Butternut Squash provides you with 297% of your daily Vitamin A requirements and 48% of Vitamin C, and has only 16 g of carbohydrates which means you can eat quite a bit and stay within your meal plan allotment.balsamic thyme butternut squash

Make your food taste great and it will be easy to eat healthy. Balsamic Thyme Butternut Squash has a quick preparation with a big payoff – delicious flavor!

To make: peel, section and cube butternut squash. Then place cubes in a plastic bag. Pour on 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar, 1 TBSP dried thyme, a dash of salt and pepper. Seal the bag and shake. Place cubes on a tinfoil lined baking sheet and place in a preheated oven at 350 degrees. Bake for 45 minutes shaking every 15 minutes to allow for even roasting.

Enjoy your Balsamic Thyme Butternut Squash as a side dish with roasted chicken and vegetables.

Abs are made in the kitchen – get in there and cook! Try our other tasty healthy EATS by clicking here.

*The exact portions will vary per person. Contact us for more details on your portions and macronutrient breakdown per meal/per day! There is no need to guess at how you should eat – let us help you eat right for your body type and goals!

Healthy Eats: Grilled Flank Steak

Grilled flank steak is a perfect protein for your Check Total Health meal plan. It is a pretty lean cut of beef and is very easy to prepare. I like to be creative with red meat and marinade in “hard root beer” along with some spicy seasoning. For this preparation, I placed a large flank steak in a plastic bag and covered in half a bottle of alcoholic root beer. You could certainly use non-alcoholic root beer or coke. The sugar in the soda makes for a nice caramelized crust on the grilled flank steak. For the spicy seasoning, I used chili powder, cumin and garlic powder. Marinade for a 1-2 hours at room temperature then heat the grill!grilled flank steak

Be careful not to overcook the steak. The grilled flank steak should be a perfect medium after 5-6 minutes per side, depending on thickness.

Thinly slice and pair the grilled flank steak with roasted broccoli and a fresh vegetable salad!

Healthy food can taste great too and we know how to do it! Try our other tasty healthy EATS by clicking here.

*The exact portions will vary per person. Contact us for more details on your portions and macronutrient breakdown per meal/per day! There is no need to guess at how you should eat – let us help you eat right for your body type and goals!

“Cheat” Meals!

What you eat behind the scenes is usually what dictates whether you get results that week or not. Stephanie and I recently realized after speaking with several different people that many of you out there think fitness professionals like ourselves, or even physique competitors live a life of working out 3 hours/day and eating only plain chicken breast and broccoli…that is true to some extent, but I’m here to share with you the other side! That’s right, we’re going to share with you our previous week’s “cheat meals” so you can see there is always a balance to life and that you can be in shape and eat delicious food too!

Believe it or not we too indulge in delicious foods and it’s probably more often than you think! My philosophy to meal planning (and life for that matter) is if you’re going to do something, do it right. We apply the same mind set to our eating plan as well- What I mean by that is we follow a very strict meal plan 85% of the week and then when the weekend comes and we need to “hit the reset button” we have whatever we want (within reason) and it doesn’t affect our results or physique!

Before I spill the beans here, let me preface with this- Everyone’s body, macro needs, exercise regimen, and physique goals are different which means their meal plan and amount of wiggle room to stray off their meal plan will be different. Some people may have to be more strict than others (especially at first) when it comes to allotting these “cheat” meals into their weekly eating plan. Obviously someone who exercises vigorously 5-7 days/week and is naturally on the thinner side will be able to get away with more “cheat” meals than say someone who is not exercising regularly and has a history of being over-weight. Many factors come into play, so don’t think that because we can get away with having 3-4 “cheat” meals/week that you can. The bottom line- the more you exercise, the more muscle mass you have, and the more strict you are during that other 85% of the week, the more likely you can get away with several cheat meals.

So without further explanation, here is what Stephanie and I had over the course of the weekend after following our meal plans strictly all week long:

Friday Night: Homemade- Asian sticky wings w/ a mushroom & onion white pizza, as well as several cocktails

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Saturday Night: Homemade- double cheese burger with several cocktails

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Sunday Night: Takeout- Numerous sushi rolls and pad Thai noodles…again- several cocktails

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As you can see, we do make many of our “cheat” meals at home, but we do go out pretty often for them as well! We don’t worry to much about portions…we eat until we have had our fill, but stop before we make ourselves feel sick. We also like to have some adult beverages these nights too!

There are actually several benefits to having these “cheat” meals and they’re needed not just for mental sanity, but have some metabolic benefits as well. The key is finding the right balance for you and your current body/fitness goals. As long as you’re following a strict meal plan 85% of the week, you can usually have the tasty things in life as well!

If you’re interested in starting a meal plan, I am here to help! I offer custom meal planning (which always includes cheat meals off the plan) with unlimited nutrition coaching and revisions to your plan. It’s not a diet and you don’t  have to guess at what you should be eating to get results! Custom tailored meal pans to your specific needs, schedule, food preferences, and physique goals. We do weekly check-ins and weigh-ins, then adjust things accordingly until you get the results you’re looking for!

Ready to start your custom meal plan? You can email me for more information or to request a meal plan questionnaire to get the process started.

Justin Check, NSCA-CPT, NESTA-FNC
Check Total Health
justin@check-yourself.com
239.209.7878 

 

Healthy Eats: Grilled Sweet Potatoes

Grilled Sweet Potatoes are one of my favorite staples in the Check Total Health Meal Plan. A great way to prepare the sweet potatoes is to slice them 1/2 inch thick, spray them with non-stick cooking spray, and season with Chinese Five Spice.grilled sweet potatoes

Then heat the grill to 500 degrees and place the sweet potatoes over direct heat. After both sides have a nice color to them, move the grilled sweet potatoes to the upper rack to give the center enough time to cook through.  Pair your grilled sweet potatoes with steak and vegetables for a complete meal!

Make food taste good so you’ll enjoy eating it! Try our other tasty healthy EATS by clicking here.

*The exact portions will vary per person. Contact us for more details on your portions and macronutrient breakdown per meal/per day! There is no need to guess at how you should eat – let us help you eat right for your body type and goals!

Healthy Eats: Open Face Sandwich

There is no need to only eat broccoli and chicken when you are eating clean. Why not make a gourmet open face sandwich and really impress a lunch guest? My mom was coming over for lunch one afternoon and I wanted to serve something that was within my Check Total Health meal plan but I also wanted it to be pleasing to someone not on a meal plan so I kicked it up a notch and served an open face sandwich.open face sandwich

Easy to make and easy to assemble! Toast Ezekiel bread to desired degree of brown! Mash half an avocado on top of it and sprinkle with fresh lemon juice, salt and pepper. Layer some thinly sliced onion and allotted chicken portion. Top with halved cherry/grape tomatoes and a bit more lemon juice, salt and pepper and there you have a delicious open faced sandwich for lunch!

Make food taste great so it’s fun to eat! Try our other tasty healthy EATS by clicking here.

*The exact portions will vary per person. Contact us for more details on your portions and macronutrient breakdown per meal/per day! There is no need to guess at how you should eat – let us help you eat right for your body type and goals!

Healthy Eats: Cilantro Salmon

Fresh herbs can take bland to bold with almost no effort required. Snazz up your fish by adding chopped fresh herbs to it before broiling and voila: Cilantro Salmon is born!cilantro salmon

Buy your fresh or frozen salmon and pat dry before placing on a tinfoil lined baking sheet. Season salmon with salt, pepper and garlic powder. Spread a thin layer of Dijon mustard on top of salmon before sprinkling with fresh chopped cilantro. Place under the broiler for 12-15 minutes. Let rest a few minutes before plating. Cilantro Salmon pairs nicely with brown rice (topped with coconut oil and curry powder) and roasted asparagus.

We know how to make healthy food taste great so it’s not a chore to eat it! Try our other tasty healthy EATS by clicking here.

*The exact portions will vary per person. Contact us for more details on your portions and macronutrient breakdown per meal/per day! There is no need to guess at how you should eat – let us help you eat right for your body type and goals!