Mango Coconut Smoothie, summer in a straw!

Hey friends! Can I #wcw on a smoothie? Because if I can, I'm crushing all over this concoction and I know what I'll be blowing all of my refeed carbs on for the rest of this prep, and then all the time after that until I find a new obsession. I present, the Mango Coconut Smoothie. Perfect for pre or post workout, and totally able to be modified to fit your macro or craving needs.

Giving in to purchasing that giant bottle of Coconut Creme creamer was a major win for the summer, that stuff rocks my socks for only 5 g of carbs and 1.5 g of fat. It's obviously fantastic in coffee, but I've also been adding it to the Chocolate GIB-100 protein powder from Gains in Bulk that Vic drinks each morning, and I've added it to my pancake bowls and finally, this smoothie.

I added in Light and Fit vanilla greek yogurt as well for extra creaminess and a protein boost. Of all the fat free vanilla greek yogurts, I've found that Light and Fit has the lowest carb count and I like the taste best.

To really just put this smoothie over the top and add some fat to keep me feeling happy, I scooped up a tablespoon of Nuts 'n More Coconut Peanut Spread. Go buy it now, it's amazing. I keep it in the fridge so that it stays all incorporated and not separated. In this case, it being so hard didn't matter, but if I use it for anything else I just spoon out how much I need and microwave it for 30 seconds and it's PERFECT.

I poured in some egg whites for even more protein, and spinach because well, micronutrients and all. I love thinking about leafy greens as little scrubbers that go through and clean me up and keep things running smoothly!

The main star of this show, the mangos, are so fantastic and so frickin' easy because I buy them bulk at Costco. Buying in bulk is clearly the shit, and I am so over tossing fresh fruits and veggies. Even though I've been eating a ton of both fruits and veggies, we still end up tossing stuff because it goes bad, so I go the frozen route a lot of the time. It also makes it so you don't have to add any ice!

Mango Coconut Smoothie

1 cup frozen Nature's Touch Mangoes
1/2 cup Light and Fit Vanilla Greek Yogurt
2 oz fresh spinach
1 tbsp Coconut Creme Coffee Mate
1 tbsp Coconut Peanut Nuts 'n More
3 serving of liquid egg whites

I would suggest adding the ingredients into the blender with the mangoes on the bottom, the weight will get them to settle down and get everything blended if you are using a Ninja cup blender like I did! I added everything to the blender in the order that I listed it above, if you can't add it all in on the first shot, add the first four, blend a bit, then add the rest. Top with some fat free reddi whip and let it blow your mind.

Everything adds up to a large tropical paradise that will blow your mind. Macros are as follows:

Carb: 45.1
Fat: 7.7
Protein: 32.6
Fiber: 5

Full disclosure, I had a caramel rice cake with 1 tbsp of creamy Skippy about an hour before this, and with all of this I was perfectly fueled by this smoothie during my high volume leg day and not overly full, and that means a lot!

Let me know if you give it a shot, and don't forget to use my code ChristinaK10 over at Gains in Bulk, that GIB-100 tastes great mixed in this as well, I made it for Vic! With having recently had surgery, we've been making sure he's getting in a ton of great quality nutrients, and also making sure he gets in his glutamine to help him heal and get his digestion right after all the tummy trauma. My in laws fly in tomorrow, but I'll try and pop on here over the weekend! Don't forget to subscribe via email or share this recipe, it really helps me out a lot and pushes me to keep trying new things to share with you guys. Talk to you soon!

Fiber Friday and Fruity Pebbles French Toast

Fiber, it's what's for breakfast over here! I hereby dub today "Fiber Friday", and let's talk about one of my top two staples, every day, no matter my current nutrition goals. I eat a lot, I mean A LOT, of two things: greek yogurt and double fiber bread. To be honest, at one point I had to reevaluate my fiber intake and actually slow it down because I was eating nearly 65-70 g of fiber a day and too much fiber can lead to the same issues as too little fiber.

The American Heart Association suggests 25-30 g of fiber per day, and a quarter of that (roughly 8 grams) should come from soluble fiber. What's soluble fiber, compared to insoluble fiber? Soluble fiber absorbs water during digestion.  Excuse me for this visual, but think of when you eat too much fiber from insoluble fiber rich foods and imagine what kind of poops you would have if they weren't absorbing water during digestion. Ouch. So, mix it up! A lot of people turn to fiber supplements to hit their goal, but you can get a ton of soluble fiber from fruits and vegetables! With it being summertime, there are berries everywhere, they make for a great sweet snack and a cup of raspberries offers the 8g of soluble fiber that you should try for each day.

Soluble fiber, besides being readily available in fruit and veggies, which means you'll also get a hefty dose of naturally occurring micronutrients and have a delicious meal, also plays a factor in reducing cholesterol levels and can help with blood sugar for people with diabetes. 

I like to eat a big, hearty breakfast before I head to the gym. My breakfast always contains a good amount of carbs, which always come down to either rolled oats, Nature's Own Double Fiber bread or Kodiak Cakes Power Cakes, all of which offer 4 to 5 grams of fiber per serving. You may here people suggest carbs that digest quickly pre workout, and lately I've been eating a chocolate rice cake with some sort of nut butter on top, and that's usually about two hours after I've had my giant, hearty breakfast. With this combo, I find that I am fueled and satisfied for my two hour gym sessions and I've been healing well, and not hungry!

Here is what I made this morning, it took me all of about 7 minutes and oh my goodness, it was delicious. Let me know if you give it a shot!

Fruity Pebbles French Toast:

3 slices of Nature's Own Double Fiber bread
5 servings (230g) of liquid egg whites
A splash of vanilla extract
1 serving (33g) of Nuts 'N More Coconut Peanut Spread
1/4 serving (15 mL) of Sugar Free Syrup
1/3 serving (10g) of  Marshmallow Fruity Pebbles

Mix the egg whites and extract together, soak each piece of bread in the mixture and cook them up! Layer each slice of toast with 1/3 of the coconut peanut spread, top with syrup, fruity pebbles and light whipped cream!

Macros:

Carbs: 58.3
Fiber: 14
Fat: 13.7
Protein: 46.3
Calories: 512

He didn't want that appendix anyways and Week 1 of Prep!

Hey friends! Sorry I went all MIA this week, it's been a doozy of a past couple of days. I'm scheduled to take my real estate licensing exam this weekend and when I have a deadline like that I tend to get useless for everything else! Dumb, I know. Also, I had a phone interview yesterday for a sales position that I think went very well, fingers are crossed, and then.....Vic got appendicitis. What a first week of prep, huh? He had been complaining about pain in his stomach all week, we just assumed that maybe it was indigestion or gas and so we tried to treat it that way. I had my appendix removed in college and by the time I knew something was wrong it was damn near bursting and I couldn't stand or move around at all. Vic's work has a clinic on site and the doctor told him "yeah, that is probably appendicitis, you need to get to the hospital" and the nerd went back up to work and finished out a meeting before driving himself to the hospital! He had surgery last night and was actually able to convince them to send him home instead of staying overnight, he's resting now and seems to be well on his way to feeling better!

The rest of the week has essentially just been entertaining the kids between rain storms (yay for the first day of summer rain, poop on that weather) and studying for this exam. I actually found an app that allows me to run through tests and study questions which is a much easier format to work on as opposed to just running through powerpoint slides. I haven't talked a whole lot about going back to work, but I've been looking at different options for the last few months, waiting to see if something particularly awesome grabbed at me. The awesome part is not having to return to work, but being able to be picky about it, but I'm used to having a job and contributing to the family and the kids actually want to be with other kids in daycare/preschool, so I'm on board with testing out the waters. I'm pretty excited about the interview I had yesterday, I'll let you know when I hear back!

But, on to prep. I started this out at 139 pounds, a lot of which was water weight from birth control snafu's and Disneyland trips, so while that number freaked me out, I knew that it would go down relatively quickly.

Last week ---> This week

I started with roughly 16 weeks to play with, so I'm excited to have a good amount of time to whittle down to stage ready. I was about 125 pounds at the Arnold, so I imagine we will have to get close to that again. My starting macros are much higher than they've ever been on prep before and that's exciting! In fact, my carb target for training days is the same as my carb target for my refeeds last prep. For those that don't understand those terms, my coach has me carb cycling. So, I have numbers to hit on training days (higher carb), numbers to hit on off days (lower carb) and refeed days which happen once a week right now and involve much higher carbs to up your glycogen stores and keep you from going totally bonkers, and lower fat to help level out calorie intake. If you are interested in learning more about carb cycling just comment below or send me an email at c.kassel@yahoo.com! I use carb cycling with my clients as well.

Last week ---> This week

I had mentioned previously that I wanted to coordinate these prep updates with some information about Parkinson's disease, considering that my prep is fueled by my Grandmother this time around. The frustrating thing about PD is that they don't know why it happens, and right now all you can really hope to do is use various methods to deal with symptoms. They do know that PD affects the neurons that produce dopamine, killing them and reducing the overall production of dopamine. Dopamine signals the brain on how to move and coordinate one's movements, so as these levels decrease so does your ability to control your movements and coordination. While everyone thinks about tremors when it comes to PD, balance is a huge factor in subsequent injuries and frustration because falling can happen quite often.

As I mentioned before, they don't really have a handle on any way to say "this causes PD", but they have found a number of genetic and environmental factors that they believe play a part. Let's chat real quick about what the Parkinson's Disease Foundation has identified as potentially protective environmental factors, some of which I find exciting. Again, they haven't been able to really nail down anything for sure because PD is such an obnoxious disease to study, but they have found a decrease in the development and prevalence of symptoms when patients are exposed Vitamin D, exercise and caffeine. What does this tell me? This reinforces that developing healthy habits of getting outside, getting exercise and my coffee addiction may be helpful in the long term, haha. The studies on caffeine were small, but showed that adding caffeine to the routine of patients didn't help with sleepiness, but their motor functions were improved. People that have higher Vitamin D levels are at a lower risk of ever developing PD, and the brain benefits of exercise help keep pathways and productions healthy, not to mention that reinforcing mind muscle connections and muscle memory can help with the balance and gait issues that come with PD.

Ok, this got long! It might seem like all of the above is just useless information because there isn't a lot to support anything, and that's what is so frustrating about when I hear about the trips to the numerous doctors that my Mom takes my Grandmother to. Everything is "well, let's try this for a while" and there isn't a whole lot to go on. Ugh. For now, I'm going to ensure that I take the best care of my body in the most basic ways possible, get outside, get moving, eat well, challenge my brain. It's all I can do at the moment to hopefully reduce the genetic likelihood of developing PD myself, since I have a pretty close relative with PD.

That's all for today, folks! Happy Thursday and we'll talk soon!

They made me not hate the zoo so much...and let's talk Glutamine!

Hey friends! Happy Friday, it's the weekend! I think it was Wednesday night when we were laying in bed, having just turned off the TV and I was like "babe, it's almost the weekend! This week has gone by so fast!" His response was "for you, maybe", haha. Truth be told, there are some weeks as a stay at home Mom where I am amazed at how quickly the days go by, and then there are others, and most of April and May were the second type I'm about to describe, where they DRAGGED and I thought Vic would never make it home and it felt like I would go to sleep Friday night and poof, it was Monday morning. Womp, womb. But...this has been a great week! Maybe I still have some Disney magic sprinkled all over me, or more likely, I still have Disney carbs in my system, haha.

When we first moved to Virginia, I was waking up every morning with Vic at 4:30 to see him off and help him get his stuff together in the morning. He leaves at around 5:15 so that he can hit the gym before work, #BroLife, whatcha gonna do about it. Like I mentioned above, after the honeymoon phase for moving back to VA wore off, which happened around the time we got home from the Arnold Classic in March, I was in a major funk and stopped getting up early with him, thinking that maybe I needed more sleep. Well, I miss that time with him, even if we spend it drinking our coffee in silence while we scroll through our Instagram feeds, simultaneously liking posts because we follow a lot of the same people. We don't get a ton of time to be Christina and Vic as opposed to Mom and Dad anymore, so I'm going to start that up again. 

I've been slacking on my meal prep for him lately, so I made him a quick breakfast of smashed potatoes and eggs and threw together some roast beef sandwiches with a Worcestershire Mayo that is super easy to whip up and super flavorful. Literally, get your normal amount of mayo in a bowl, add in about a tablespoon of the W Sauce (it's so long to type, haha), and add in a hefty amount of freshly cracked pepper. Boom. For the smashed potatoes, I had a bag of steamable cute little potatoes from Target that I steamed earlier this week and kept in the fridge. I popped six of them in a skillet, smashed them with a spatula, drizzled them with olive oil and seasoned them and let them cook until crisp. Double boom. I almost won breakfast except for the part where I gave him plain egg whites on the side of his two over easy eggs and my man doesn't do plain egg whites. Forgive the bodybuilder in me that is used to surviving on plain foods. 

The kids and I had a great morning, they slept in late and I got to catch up, like I'm WAY behind, on Southern Charm. Have you watched it? I may start a whole separate series of posts about that show, I'm hooked. After we all got in a good breakfast, walked the dogs and Ryker picked up his 10 pieces of trash, we were off to the gym! For the record, I don't make him do the trash thing, he genuinely loves it and I love seeing him get joy out of something selfless! Today was upper body day, so lots of back and chest work. 

We try to do something fun that is just for the kids every day that we can, and today we made it to the Virginia Zoo! We have a membership to the Aquarium and during the month of June they are doing a member swap, so we went to the Zoo for free. Joke was on me though, because it was nearly 90 degrees and 69% humidity, and everyone was asleep. Like, so asleep that when we went to the orangutans, the dude had straw pulled over his face and was like "leave me the fuck alone or give me your iced americano, Christina". 

Ryker is sleeping like the monkey!

Regardless, Ryker and I had a great time while Cora cuddled her baby and rode in the stroller, mostly unimpressed. Ryker and I tried to find all of the characters from Lion Guard on Disney Junior, I think we only missed out on the Honey Badger Dude and Beshti, the hippo. 

Note Cora's poor little nose, she's had a runny allergy nose for the last two weeks and the skin has finally given up with how many times I have to hold her head still to wipe it with a baby wipe. Poor kid, it does not look comfortable. She was so cute, I would look over and she'd be holding baby on her shoulder, patting her back and singing to her. Swoon!

And finally...the point of this post! 

We got a package in the mail from my sponsor, Gain in Bulk, this week and I was stoked to be able to switch over to them as the source for another product that we absolutely run through in our house. I want to start this by saying that Glutamine and all other supplements are just that, supplements. Glutamine actually happens to be the "most abundant amino acid in the body" (UMM.edu), and for a lot of people it isn't necessary to add in an outside source for the purpose of supplementation. For athletes or people who struggle with a variety of illnesses, it can be very helpful! 

Glutamine helps to get excess ammonia out of your body while also improving your overall immune functions, and in case you didn't know, a lot of your immune system ties to your gut, so people who suffer from gut based issues can benefit from adding glutamine to their routine. High stress, injuries, surgery, illness and even just an insane training schedule (which can cause high cortisol levels, which brings us back to stress) can decrease glutamine in the body, so again, these are times to consider adding it in. 

While some studies have shown that adding glutamine to a diet when suffering from IBD showed no measurable positive effect, many people turn to glutamine to assist with digestion and healing "leaky gut syndrome". They have shown that adding glutamine to enteral feeding methods (tube feeding, like in a hospital) has helped patients in the ICU and it has also been helpful for people coming out of surgery who are at risk or have contracted an infection and it can be helpful for burn patients. 

For athletes, some researchers have made the connection between the sickness that can be seen following high intensity bouts of training or events and glutamine, with the idea that the decreased glutamine in the body from the high intensity exercise and stress placed on the body may lead to decreased immune function. 

As bodybuilders, we like to think that by decreasing ammonia buildup and helping our immune system, glutamine can help avoid becoming catabolic and some believe that it helps promote muscle synthesis. Bodybuilding.com offers an article discussing how intense training sessions can lead to it taking 6 days to get glutamine levels back to normal, and that supplementing can spur an increase in HGH. But, I appreciate that they also focus mostly on how glutamine is important for your intestines and how hardcore gym bros and bunnies can tend to get sick from wearing their bodies down and glutamine can help support your system and keep you from having to take more days off than you'd like. For this reason, Vic and I each aim to get 5g pre and post workout, and if we remember, another scoop in the middle of the day. you can get it from Optimum Nutrition on Amazon, which is what we used to do, but I appreciate that Gains in Bulk includes a certificate proving the purity of your product, showing when it was manufactured, its exact expiration and its levels when tested. Boom. Get it here and don't forget to use my code, ChristinaK10 to get 10% off! 

So, there you have it, folks. Baby Girl is up from her nap and banging on her door. She acts like she doesn't have a shit ton of fun toys in there that she never plays with and like I trap her in a dungeon. Insert Mom Eye Roll here. I hope you have a great weekend! 

Pancake Bowls with Kodiak Cakes

Hey friends! So, I've mentioned it before, but if you aren't following me on Instagram you should hop over and join the party because it's easy to update and interact over there on a super regular basis. But, as I've also mentioned, I really want to get back to updating this platform on a regular basis! I love the freedom of being able to just type away. I start classes up again in July, this time it will be my second shot at Sports Entrepreneurship and I swear I won't drop it three days in this time. I want to be done with this damn graduate certificate and degree so bad! I only have this class left for the certificate before they'll let me take the capstone course, and it's very annoying that I can't do them concurrently, seeing as they are for different programs and not pre-requisites. Dumb.



The topic of today is, drumroll, PANCAKE BOWLS! So, for a while I started making pancakes every day using Kodiak Cakes, my favorite protein, Quest Nutrition Cinnamon Crunch or Peanut Butter flavors, and usually a greek yogurt frosting. Well, then I got lazy and started doing it all in a bowl and popping it in the microwave. Let me tell you, the bowl microwaves up all big and fluffy, but dense and filling and oh my goodness, it's amazing.

Here is what you will need for the base of any version:

Kodiak Cakes Power Cakes: I get this at Costco, but you can get it at this link on Amazon, and they have it for a pretty good price and you can't beat that shipping if you've got Prime. If you don't have Prime, we need to have a serious conversation. What are you doing with your life without Prime? Get Prime. I digress. Go buy Power Cakes while you sign up for Amazon Prime, I've used them for pancakes, pancake bowls, donuts and muffins and they're fantastic. One serving offers 30 C, 2 F and 14 P, making them an awesome base for any recipe.

Quest Nutrition Protein Powder: Cinnamon Crunch is hands down my favorite flavor, click that link and you'll see that with Subscribe and Save you can get it for less than $30, making it less than $1 per serving and that is fantastic for a great tasting source of 20 g of protein. They also make a baking mix, but I haven't tried it. Let me know if you have!

Egg whites: Stock up on these bad boys at either Costco, Walmart or Target. I always go for store brand. Egg whites and Egg Beaters aren't the same thing, so keep an eye out if you are new to buying egg whites in a carton. You can also use fresh, which I think makes it fluffier, in which case I still measure them out and find that three fresh egg whites equates to two servings from a carton.

Baking Powder: I promise you already have this, I've also substituted baking soda as needed.

Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk, or you can always use a splash of water.

So, here's the quick recipe for the plain version:

53g or 1/2 cup of Kodiak Cakes Power Cakes
2 egg whites, or 92 g
1 scoop of Quest Protein
1 teaspoon of baking powder
Splash of milk or water until you get a good pancake batter consistency, I usually end up around 1/4 cup but have used up to 1/2 cup as well. Go with your gut.

Mix it up until all incorporated, microwave for 90 seconds! Sometimes it needs an extra 30 seconds, just check and make sure the middle sets!

Great mix-ins include:

1/2 cup of Fruit (I use frozen, because shit goes bad quickly around here)
Extracts! I love the good old original vanilla, but I'm also obsessed with almond, coconut and the very best of all...orange extract. Find them in the baking aisle and CHANGE YOUR WORLD.
Cinnamon
Nutmeg
Sprinkles!!
1 serving of chocolate chips, I've also done butterscotch chips and white chocolate chips. Weigh that shit, it's easy to go overboard quickly.
PBFit
The options are endless, if you can imagine it in a pancake, you can do it here with less mess and less opportunity for having to scrape a pancake that didn't set right off of your oven because it's all safe in a bowl!

Here are some of my favorite variations for the pancake bowl itself, not including the toppings:

Blueberry Vanilla Bowl
Add 1/2 cup of blueberries (I use frozen) and 1 tablespoon of Vanilla Extract (I love extracts)

Citrus Pancake Bowl
Add 1/2 cup of chopped frozen peaches, 1/2 tablespoon of Orange Extract, a healthy dash of cinnamon

Chocolate Peanut Butter
Add PBFit to the base, top with chocolate chips and a version of the frostings below!

Greek Yogurt Frosting:

I like to use Plain Fat Free Greek yogurt as often as possible because it is the lowest in carbs, and we'll be adding stuff anyways. I use 1/2 cup for each of the following mixtures.

Things I like to add (and the quantity)
8g of SF/FF Jello Pudding mix- the options here are life changing. It thickens the Greek Yogurt so well and oh man, a little goes a long way. My favorites are cheesecake, white chocolate and butterscotch!
PBFit
Half a scoop or 15g of Protein Powder

Each of the above will thicken the Greek Yogurt even more, making it spread like a frosting. You can also add some of the extracts above, flavoring it even more! This is where I usually add in the orange extract.

All time favorite mixture:

Greek Yogurt
White Chocolate SF/FF Pudding powder
Chocolate chips
1 tbsp of Peanut Butter
All on top of the plain pancake base with Orange Extract added in!

It's straight heaven in a bowl!

Let me know if you try any of these and tag me in your pictures if you post to Instagram!

Not beautiful, but this was the version I had this morning! Plain base with orange extract, topped with yogurt mixed with Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter

#TransformationTuesday Favorites...on a Wednesday

Hey friends! I cannot believe how long it has been since I did anything on this blog, December, yeesh! If you follow me on Instagram (Christina.Kassel) or Youtube, you know that the kids and I recently went to California for a quick trip to visit my parents and go to Disneyland. We had the best time! What I always loved about Disneyland trips was the opportunity to get out of the house, wander in sunshine and magic and avoid TV and phones for a bit. Well, it provided just that. Head over to to this link if you'd like to see the bit of footage I managed to get and here some of my traveling tips!

Now, this was supposed to get accomplished yesterday, but I've been putting extra effort into my housekeeping skills because family is coming at the end of the month and I'm getting a head start, haha! Between that, the gym, Cora not wanting to go down for bed and a dead computer, I didn't get to this post last night or in time for #transformationtuesday. But fear not, we're rebels here and I'm sharing it as a transformation based post, no matter what.

I wanted to share a few of my favorites that have supported a transformation in my habits and my overall day. A lot of these traveled with me to California! I'l include links to everything below in case any interest you and of course, feel free to reach out with any questions or comments! Once upon a time, my blog was set up for affiliate links, which meant I got a very small commission if you purchased anything but I don't think I am set up for that since I've stepped away from blogging, but just in case...there's the necessary disclaimer, haha.

Alright...here we go!

1. 40 oz Contigo Water Bottle

This water bottle is a game changer, folks. It holds 40 ounces of water, the straw goes all the way to the very bottom leaving no drop behind, the top pops up and can be locked to avoid spills and the top also functions as a clip so that you can hold it in place in your bag or on a stroller hook! The straw is a little hard to suck on but the kids manage just fine, you just have to get used to it. At $16.99 on Amazon (normally $24.99), it is 100% worth the money and I love this thing. Pound three of these babies and boom, you've got your gallon of water in for the day! 

2. Nature's Own Double Fiber Bread

Whether I am dieting down or eating at maintenance or in a surplus, it is imperative to get in enough fiber to keep digestion moving and to stay satisfied. Enter my good friend, my favorite bread ever, double fiber Nature's Own. I get this at our Walmart Neighborhood Market, sometimes you can find it at Target as well. At 50 calories per slice, you also get 11g carbs, .5g fat, 3 g of protein and 4 g of fiber. You should try and shoot for about 25-30 g of fiber per day. If you make a sandwich or a great pile of egg white French Toast with this you are guaranteed to be well on your way to your fiber goal!

3. Protein Powders (Quest and Gains in Bulk)

Peruse my Instagram just a bit and you'll find that I use this protein powder so much that I have to actually place a limit on myself. I love mixing it with Greek Yogurt and putting that on toast made with the double fiber bread, or using that same yogurt mixture as a base for ice cream to boost my protein intake and have multiple yummy textures. It's amazing. The cinnamon crunch flavor has crunchy cereal bits and the peanut butter is amazing in smoothies. Man, I love that stuff. Most flavors are roughly 100 calories, 20ish grams of protein and >5g of carbs and very low in fat. So basically, I can count on them only being a protein source. The Gains in Bulk protein, found here, tastes amazing and makes a creamy chocolate malt shake, but it has 24 g of carbs. This is PERFECT for Vic's pre and post workout shakes, so he uses this daily. It also provides 20 g of protein, 100% of your daily vitamins and minerals and is predigested to minimize any sort of bloat. It's priced in bulk and you can also get 10% off with my code ChristinaK10! This is FANTASTIC for people who need a meal replacement since it offers so much more than just protein. 

4. FitCrunch Bars, PBFit and ThinkThin bars

I used to be really bad about surviving off of protein bars because quite frankly, they make these things taste like legit candy bars these days. FitCrunch bars can be found on Amazon and I've found them at Walmart, they are hands down the best tasting bars. Great frosting, baked, crunchy layers and amazing flavors, but they are a big macro hit. If you'll be busy and can't eat a meal, go for one of these for sure! When I was on prep, I would plan one of these as a meal to satisfy my sweet tooth and it was totally worth it to not have all the volume for the great taste. ThinkThin bars are also great, pack a little bit less of a macro punch, but are a second favorite for me. They have a good variety of flavors and some that are less heavy on protein, like the cupcake batter flavor, which is great pre or post workout. I get these on Amazon or at Walmart as well! And finally, PBFit is amazing for adding the best flavor ever, peanut butter, without all the fat. This offers 4C, 6P and 1.5F for a 2tbsp serving, which is plenty when added to yogurt or a smoothie. I've also mixed it with a small amount of water and used it to top rice cakes!

5. Supplements and nightcaps

I recently became a sponsored athlete with Gains in Bulk, and I went with their company because as a stay at home Mom who loves to brunch, I adore that they are packaged in bulk with great prices without giving up quality. Their athlete digestive formula was the kicker for me and why I first tried their products. At $31.95 before my discount, you can get 90 days of the ADF here, it is made up of digestive enzymes and probiotics that help breakdown and utilize your food that much better, offering up to 300 times for amino acid use from your food, which is a big deal. For me, it has allowed me to add Brussel Sprouts and cauliflower back in to my diet without terrible bloating. I take 3-4 every day and wouldn't go without it. On our trip to CA, I lost my birth control but always had this in my purse because #priorities and #gains, duh. I get the Olly vitamins at Target and the sleep formula has really helped me get to sleep quickly. The serving size is two, but I take three about a half hour before bed and I can get to sleep before Vic starts snoring (sorry, babe). I also love to have a cup of tea, or two, before bed and lately I've been having one cup of the Smooth Move tea (let's be over honest, I struggle with not pooping regularly and this keeps things moving), and one cup of herbal. Right now, I'm obsessed with the Vanilla Honey Chamomile, oh man...it's good. 

6. Beats Headphones

Last, but certainly not least when it comes to importance or cost, are my Beats headphones. The white pair like mine are more expensive, but you can get the black ones for like $40 less on Amazon, here. And you know what, check out the Fitbit Blaze as well. Yes, they are stupid expensive. Yes, I would cry so many tears without them. I love them. They make my entire day better. I check my Fitbit like a crazy person and love the way that all that data keeps me working on improving every day. I wear my headphones at the gym and around the house while I'm cleaning, when I'm on the phone and need to be hands free and basically whenever I don't want to hear people talking to me, haha. They are LIFE CHANGING. 

I hope you enjoyed my not so little list! Please, let me know if you have any questions or need other suggestions! Don't forget to hop over to Instagram and Youtube and join the party. Cora's is finally awake, it's 8:19 and my day has to start. Cross your fingers that she's in as a good of a mood as her brother. Happy Wednesday, friends!