Week 4: Spring Clean and Drop 10 challenges

Wow! Week 4 already. How is your clean-up going? I have a prize for two people that send me a snapshot of their food diaries/exercise log (can be a screen shot, picture of a written diary, etc.) Congrats to Susan Korth for winning a prize for sending me exercise logs (random drawing from those of you that sent them to me)!

Week 4 Goals: TAKE THE RAINBOW CHALLENGE

Eat a rainbow of colors this week! Many of you have participated in the rainbow challenge before. It starts again, now. Please use this form to track your rainbow of color intake. Aim for the whole rainbow every day, but at least 21 of the 30 days in April. *  There is a colorful idea list on the 2nd page of your Rainbow challenge form.

How to succeed:

Include at least one COLOR, preferably 2, from veggies or fruit in EVERY MEAL. Ideally, two COLORS per meal. Start with breakfast. I usually do a scramble of one egg + one egg white (I give one yolk to the dog for a shiny coat) and spinach or kale and mushrooms. I’m lazy and in a hurry most mornings, so this is easy J. You could also add thawed from frozen berries to yogurt, etc. Just make sure you have COLOR.

Just think, if you start with breakfast, you will already have one or two servings of veggies/fruits in before you’ve even started your day!

Lunch: Add a bed of spinach to anything. I often take left over protein from the night before then place it on top of a handful of spinach (we buy the big box at Sam’s) and add balsamic vinegar and olive oil. I add other chopped veggies from the big bowl in the fridge to make a full salad. Bring an apple for dessert and you’ve got a great COLORFUL lunch.

Dinner: Frozen veggies are just as healthy as fresh. Rather than thinking about what will go with rice or pasta, think first of your protein and then what veggies you will fill up on – good things first!

Snacks: Fruit with nuts or seeds, cheese stick with a mandarin orange, peanut butter and an apple, veggies with greek yogurt dip or hummus, etc. There are lots of easy ways to add color!

Use the chart from our Rainbow Challenge to check off your colors! We will do this for the rest of the challenge, but turn your sheet into me after four weeks.

*If colorful fruits/veggies are new to you, pick one color – say green and focus on adding green to your day for a couple of days, then move on by adding orange, red, yellow, etc. If you’re a color-eating pro, check your “Choose Your Foods” book and select veggies from the non-starchy veggies list and fruits with the lowest amount of sugar (lowest carb amounts per serving size). We’ll really start using these books next week.