Blueberry Muffin Protein Shake, Plus 2 More Secret Weapons

Growing up I would often spend the morning before school at one of my sets of grandparents. I grew up in a small town (2200 people), my mom went to work early, and I was lucky to have family around. In incredibly fortunate fashion, both of my grandmother's loved to bake. My one grandmother would make blueberry muffins fresh almost each day. I could eat a countless amount. These muffins were unreal. Think: moist, bite-sized, juicy blueberries and emitting that vanilla infused, sugar-cobbler like flavor. I'm wafting into another realm just thinking about them. The smell, the taste. Wow. 

Fast forward to today somehow this blueberry muffin protein shake just happened and I'm overjoyed. It's the little things, right? First I will share the recipe. Second let's chat some backstory on nostalgia, weight release, loyalty and just life. 

Recipe

Toss these ingredients into your favorite blender and enjoy! 

• 1/2 Cup Unsweetened Soy Milk
• Dash of water
• 1 scoop Promix Unflavored Whey Isolate Protein (I've started adding creatine, too)
• Dash of vanilla extract
• Sprinkle of cinnamon
• Pinch of Celtic or pink himalayan sea salt
• 1/4 (ish) cup of frozen wild blueberries 
• 1/2 or whole banana
• 1 tbsp ground flax meal
• Optional: adding a teeny bit of sweetener (pure monk fruit without erythritol, maple syrup, honey, apple sauce, etc). 

Blend and enjoy! 

Alright, let's hit the nostalgia and also talk about weight release because that's a moment I'm in right now. I'm 5'0 and any extra pound on my body makes me uncomfortable and hence when I become aware that my body would feel better shedding a few pounds, I tend to the matter at hand. My recent burnout experience led me to snack a lot more than making meals. I'm someone who knows how to eat in the physical and I am also someone who has a healthy relationship psychologically with food and still, I mentally vacated around this category of life while in burnout. Read more here and here.   

When I'm serious about something, I call in the big guns. The big guns meaning: tried, tested and true (and, I am also a loyalist). Tried tested and true for me is: Weight Watchers tracking points and Tracy Anderson for movement. 

I do not follow the Weight Watchers recipes/ingredients per se, and I do not eat reduced fat or reduced calorie anything. I also do not consume seed oils...but, I love the Weight Watchers points tracking system which is incredibly handy available in their App. Pro tip: join Weight Watchers from their website and download the App after. Same as my online studio (should you ever wish to join), join from the website, and download the App afterwards. There is always a better deal on the website (the App store costs more).

Let's chat Weight Watchers and how that came into my life. When I was 20-something years old I did Weight Watchers. It was a thing my mom and other mom's were doing (this is like, the year 2000 or 2001) AND they had great success as part of this program. I had newly moved to the city from my tiny hometown and upon turning legal drinking age, the extra late night calories added up. Think: Greek food after the bar (hello calamari), smokies, hot dogs, McDonald's, pizza... I am 5'0 and I didn't want to not be able to be a regular 20 year and not enjoy the lifestyle I had at the time, and so cue Weight Watchers. Their classic points system was genius, and for me, it worked. 

Recent days, as mentioned, I'm carrying a little extra weight (10 lbs to be exact) from my burnout experience, and I've been unconsciously eating - probably my feelings. Taking my life back into my hands, as I call it, my best friend and I decided, "let's join Weight Watchers again" (both of us had done this in the past, 20 years ago and with our moms). Talk about a hit of nostalgia. 

How Tracy Anderson came into my life? Right-right after my car accident in 2018 I needed movement that I could count on, that I knew was safe and effective, and low impact enough that my head would be ok. I am forever a Tracy stan and will defend and promote her until the day I die. Period. If you want the job done right, go to the expert. If you decide to sign up for Tracy (online studio) please use my referral link! This is it. I would be so grateful. And once you're in, we can chat weekly workouts! #joymuch

Back to Weight Watchers for a second. In addition to counting points on the Weight Watchers App, you can also see the totalled breakdown of your macros per food, etc. I've never been a macros person, but it's nice to see the breakdown and this way of nourishing yourself for weight release and sustained weight management - does work. I haven't been tracking points the past 20 years (I only did this for a year or two). But, I have been eating this way of life for as long as I can remember (eating for satiety and unintentionally pretty macrobiotically, clean and in unrestricted fashion). I have my own tricks of the trade - MANY, with the primary one being eating for brain, mood and satiety. Food and weight is physical and practical, and it's also psychological and mental. Full respect for every single person on their own journey. 

My General Rules of Thumb For Food

• Eat whole foods
• Limit processed foods and if must, choose minimally processed 
• I eat for brain and mood stability which means I MUST be satiated. If you are not satiated, unless you're superhuman (and even then) your focus can be quite distracted.