Grain-Free Banana Bread

Just because I am on my way to living healthier, doesn't mean my sweet tooth has disappeared. Isagenix has helped me curb my sugar cravings to some degree. In fact, many of the goodies I want aren't super sweet. But I never want to feel deprived. So eating banana bread, cookies and other sweets that are grain-free and packed with protein, healthy fats and much more, make me feel pretty great!

I found this one on Primally Inspired's website. I basically followed the instructions but added a few things. :)

Ingredients:

4 very ripe bananas, mashed

1/3 cup coconut oil, melted

4 free-range eggs

1 ½ tsp vanilla

1 ½ tsp cinnamon

½ cup organic coconut flour

1 heaping tsp baking soda

¼ tsp salt

1/3 cup dark chocolate chips

1/3 cup chopped pecans

1/3 cup shredded coconut

1 tbsp flax seeds

(1/3 cup of maple syrup if you don't have ripe bananas)

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix all wet ingredients in a medium bowl and then combine the dry ingredients. Pour into a lightly greased (use coconut oil or butter for greasing) bread pan and bake for about 40-45 minutes or until center is set and top is golden.

Let's talk about exercise!

First off, do you need to exercise to start to lose weight? No. Do you need to exercise to continue to lose weight and maintain weight? Absolutely! What I have found is that most people, while they use the excuse that they don't have time, actually don't workout because they don't have the energy. I was one of these people. I used to workout when I was younger and once I had kids I used the same excuse -- I don't have time! Well, I was also extremely tired. So if there was a choice of relaxing for 30 minutes or working out for 30 minutes, I would relax every time.

During my first Isagenix cleanse I didn't workout at all. But once the cleanse was over, I had all of this energy! What would I do with all of this new-found energy? I started running. I didn't run for long. First 20 minutes, then 30 and finally I worked my way up to 45 minutes. I don't belong to a gym and the mornings became SUPER cold. I wanted to retreat. I knew I had to continue to burn off the energy I had so I started playing on my kid's Wii! Yes, Just Dance 4! This game has a Just Sweat mode which plays several songs in a row depending on how much time you choose. They are themed. My favorite is the kickboxing theme. Many times I only do 25 minutes. I also really enjoy EA Sports Active 2. I use this workout to target my arms and legs since there is a resistance band included that is quite effective. I also like the fact that it tracks your heart rate and you can customize your workouts. And that's it! I workout 4 times a week 20-40 minutes and I have results. Good nutrition, move your body and Isagenix.

It just proves you don't have to workout in a gym 7 days a week, 2 hours a day to be fit. So take your energy and get moving! My new workout I am trying this week? Jillian Michaels Kickbox Fastfix. This  DVD has 3 different workouts all only 20 minutes long (see, no excuse for no time!). One targets your arms, the second targets your legs and the last one targets your core. I am planning on only doing one a day but maybe if I feel up to it I will try 2 back-to-back. Who needs the gym? :)

I would love to hear other people comment on their favorite in-home workouts!

Why I wanted to share Isagenix

It's so funny when you are introduced to something you are sure you won't like and then you end up thinking it's the best thing ever! The difficult thing is that there are so many products out there that are so harmful for your body. It is crazy just looking through one fitness or body building magazine. Pills and shakes and who knows what filled with chemicals, artificial sugar and soy! One thing that I couldn't ignore were the ingredients in Isagenix's products. They take pride in the fact that everything is all natural. Their shakes have no soy and there are no artificial sweeteners. Even the whey that Isagenix uses is from New Zealand cows. Pasture grass fed cows. Why use cows that are GMO grain feed or grazing on grass from fields that are nutritionally depleted when you could use cows from New Zealand? There is also a large herbal presence in Isagenix. I started to compare product after product and I couldn't find any that stood up to the same standards.

The quality of the ingredients was the first thing that really caught me. But then I loved the idea that Isagenix uses Nutritional Cleansing. Nutritional cleansing that was meant to do just that -- cleanse with nutrition. Nutrition was the most important part! Fasting yet bomb-barding yourself with nutrition your body needs. And focusing on toxins. How important in this day and age. I know that I can't protect myself from every toxin I am exposed to. It is literally impossible. And while our bodies have natural cleansing abilities, we were not meant to cleanse all of the toxins we are exposed to today. I love knowing I can help aid my body in what it already wants to do!

Great ingredients, nutrition, toxin cleansing and the fact that it really does work -- I'm sold! I have cleansed twice now and have lost weight and inches both times. I have lost fat that I couldn't otherwise lose. This is called toxic fat which are areas where our bodies store toxins that it was unable to cleanse itself. And my muscle mass? I actually gained muscle mass through the program. It became apparent that this was something great. I have been watching my sister transform herself as well. She has had drastic results, having lost 30 lbs. with Isagenix. She has gone from sitting on the couch to having energy to hit the gym to entering a bikini competition. It is truly amazing.

So I'm sharing it -- with my family, my friends and now strangers whom I think all could benefit from Isagenix. Ask me how you can find out more. Or check out the products yourself. Or follow me on Facebook!

40 year old abs

So here is a picture of me after 2 cleanses and 5 months using Isagenix. Yes, I need to find a good before picture. The problem is, you never feel like taking pictures "before". Well, take them! No one has to see them but you! Most pictures I have are only of my face which I don't tend to gain weight. My legs were so much thicker so I would hide them in loose shorts, skirts and baggie pants. I have never been heavy but I have never been this lean either. I don't think that as a 40 year old Mom of two, I would ever be able to do this without Isagenix. I have more work to get done and Isagenix is going to help me get there! If you want to learn more about Isagenix visit cemclean.isagenix.com.

What is an Isagenix 9-day cleanse?

First, the Isagenix 9-day cleanse is actually 11 days. And like I mentioned before, you can actually eat during this cleanse! What I also like is that this is a nutritional cleanse. The fact that most people lose weight is just a nice side effect! The cleanse is 11 days because it starts with 2 pre-cleanse days. These days you concentrate on eating clean and getting used to following a schedule of eating more often and kick-starting your metabolism. You also start drinking the Isagenix IsaLean Shake twice a day. The first 2 days were harder than I thought. I guess I was more toxic than I thought! I drank the shakes, had 2 small meals -- all organic and stayed away from processed foods, artificial sweeteners, preservatives, additives and sugar including things that turn into sugar like bread, crackers and white pasta. So what could I eat? Organic eggs, raw almonds, organic vegetables, lean protein like chicken and turkey, organic apples and pears, organic yogurt and more. The big challenge, days 3 and 4 called "deep cleanse" days. These are the days I think of when I think of a cleanse. Not eating -- fasting -- 2 days! How could I do it? Well, the cleanse includes a juice called Cleanse For Life. During your deep cleanse days you drink this 4 times a day. Along with the juice you eat Isagenix Snacks. These are small wafer-like snacks. Sold separate are IsaDelight Plus chocolates that you can actually eat on these days as well. You bet I bought them! While I definitely had moments of great hunger, I didn't get dizzy or light-headed at all. I am hypo-glycemic and often have issues with my blood sugar. I was surprised that while you don't bring many calories in those 2 days, your sugars are maintained. The purpose of the back to back deep cleanse days? To allow your body to suspend digestion. After you suspend digestion for only 4 hours your body begins to produce the hormones that make lean muscle mass and increase your metabolism. During the first 24 hours your body cleans the toxins from the liver. The second 24 hours is when the body begins to burn fat. I made it through those 2 days, excited to move on to 5 days called "shake days". Because -- back to eating! These days are similar to the pre-cleanse days except now you use the same Isagenix Snacks in place of all snacks (you can buy additional snacks as well). But you still get to have 1-2 small meals and your 2 shakes which by day 5,  I was totally looking forward to! The shake days breezed by and then I was up against my last 2 deep cleanse days. But I did it! I lost 5 lbs. and 14 inches in those 11 days. Even better, the inches I lost were from areas I struggled with. Plus, I felt great! I had so much energy and my horrible sugar cravings were almost non-existent. Skeptical me, no longer. And little did I know -- just the first step in my journey.

Is this just the beginning?

I have been slowly trying to be more healthy for awhile now. But not until September 2012, did things start to change. I was introduced to Isagenix by my sister, Nicole. I was a skeptic at first, not thinking I needed anything to help me in my search for "healthy". I thought I did pretty well! I wasn't overweight and didn't eat red meat. I even gave up my diet Dr. Pepper! However, things weren't perfect. I lacked energy and motivation to workout. So while I wasn't fat, I didn't really look that great in a bikini either. Okay, let me try Isagenix already!

I started with one of Isagenix's most popular systems, the 9-day cleanse. I thought -- ugh, 9 days of cleansing? I then find out the program is 11 days! But luckily, it's not 11 days of not eating. Whew! Because I like to eat. And let me tell you right now, I have never dieted in my life! This was going to be hard -- I was sure of it! So I made it through the cleanse -- I will go into detail about the cleanse later. And to my surprise I lost 5 lbs. in those 11 days and felt fantastic! I had so much energy I didn't know what to do! Hmmm... or did I? Yes! Time to burn off that energy and try running again.

I used to run or jog about 14 years ago. Holy crap, that's a long time! When I used to run I never ran that long but ran often, usually 4-6x a week. I didn't really run because I liked it but because I always had heavy legs and running seemed to be the only thing that thinned them out. I swear, I would look down at the treadmill and stop at 30 minutes on the dot. I ran longer along Lake Michigan (I miss that) but not by much. I was convinced that I couldn't run further than 3 miles and had no reason to do so. Starting to run after so much time was scary. I walked, ran, walked, ran until I was able to go further and further. I kept drinking the IsaLean shakes in the morning because the extra protein really gave me the energy to go out and run. Before I knew it I was running past my usual 3 miles with ease. I ran a 4-miler for Thanksgiving and obviously didn't push myself enough as I wasn't out of breath at all at the finish line.

During my Isagenix cleanse I learned a lot about nutrition and started applying it to every day. I started to use more of their products like their snacks and bars and even some of their supplements. Between better nutrition and running, my body started to change. By January, I was ready to do another cleanse. I had one too many sweets over the holidays and stopped running as often because it was cold. My second cleanse I lost 10 lbs. Crazy. Again, my energy skyrocketed and I started doing a workout program in my home. Body is still in transformation mode now.

Is this just the beginning? The knowledge I have gained? The tools I have with Isagenix? Will I continue to just get better? I am 40 and better than I was at 30. I can't wait to learn more, work harder and keep Isagenix as part of my life. Bring on 41!