Sitting behind a desk all day can not only be a strain on you health mentally (bad lighting, lack of Vitamin D, closed in by four walls with phones ringing while typing away...) but it can be a strain on your physical health as well. With eight hours or more in a stationary position your back and core muscles suffer as well as your metabolism. Irregular lunch breaks coupled with stress can lead to eating unhealthy foods not only as a convenience but as a form of comfort as well. (When you see legal movies with rooms full of Chinese take out they are not joking.) So to keep my cravings in check I try to keep a few healthy foods in my desk and available at all times to help fill in some of those missing macros I may not get in my other meals throughout the day.

As a busy mom, mornings can usually end up being breakfast free (or full of a quick bowl of sugar cereal). By the time everyone get up, gets cleaned, and gets ready to get out of the door by 7AM (which never happens), there is hardly any time for the traditional bacon and eggs. Even though I don't have to be at work until 9AM, I try to spend about 45 minutes to an hour (Lord willing) Monday through Friday at the gym lifting and/or cycling in winter or outside in the spring and summer running at the track (Plus another 30 - 60 minutes after work pushing out some more cardio if time permits.) So after showering, packing my gym/work bag, picking up all of E's toys leftover from the night before, making sure the dishes are done, throwing in a load of laundry, doing some folding, wiping down the bathroom and a few other odds and ends, I need to make sure that I have enough good proteins and carbs in my body before I hop on my bicycle and head to the gym.

Over the years I have been building up enough confidence to dabble with writing my own recipes. To the dismay of some, the majority of these recipes involving making my baked goods more healthy, chocked full of veggies, and devoid of the ingredients one usually wants when eating something hot from the over: sugar, sugar, sugar!

The word "natural" is such a loaded word. Essentially everything comes from nature, even the things we don't specifically like and are terribly bad for us. But when we see the word "natural" on our food and clothing and personal care products we believe that these products are as close to their original state as they can possibly be. When I came up for the recipe for these muffins, I made an effort to use foods that were as close to their natural state as I could. With the exception of the whole wheat flour and vanilla extract, all of the ingredients are fresh (and some local). There is also no sugar in these muffins! The sweetness comes from the honey and grated apple.I used this method to substitute using applesauce in the muffins. You can also use real maple syrup instead of honey and the eggs can be replaced to make them vegan.

Chicken is one of the most versatile of proteins out there: you can bake it, fry it, turn it into a soup or stew, steam it, stir fry it - it's pretty much endless. And at 38 gram of protein per cup, very low saturated fat, and is naturally low in sodium, you can't beat this lean meat.

I love smoothies! Who doesn't? I love how quick, tasty, and convenient they are. There are some days I could probably sustain myself solely on fruity smoothie goodness (whether it be my super tight schedule or just because I crave them), but, this is not entirely healthy. In fact, you'd be surprised to find out how unhealthy most smoothies actually are.

Let me explain...

Even though I am going gluten free for Lent, I needed to share this recipe for my Tutorial Tuesday..I mean THURSDAY! I had wanted to make my own whole wheat bread last week to eat with the following day's dinner, but I am not a fan of having to sit and wait...and wait...and wait for my breads to rise. I also wanted to make some whole wheat bread since I had a large opened bag that I needed to start using up and we had been eating so much of the white stuff the past week. I went online and found the 5 Minute Flax Wheat Bread Recipe from momdish.com and decided to give it a try.

I began using My Fitness Pal last year when I started to exercise more - running, weightlifting and the such. It began as a way to monitor mostly my carb intake but U used it to keep track of all of the food I was eating, water I was drinking, as well as monitor my calorie intake and compare it to the approximate number of calories I was burning throughout the day. You never realize just how many calories are in certain foods, but, just as importantly, you never realize sometimes how little calories are in things as well. After a few months of posting I began to notice things about my body that were just feeling "off." I was having headaches and was going through periods of sleeplessness as well as feeling sluggish. I would have periods of off and on energy and sometimes my bowels would completely disagree with me. Coming from a family riddled with autoimmune issues, I know what the effects of food can have on a person. Luckily, keeping track of my food helped me to figure some things out and learn.