3 Recipe Hacks for Fat Loss

Working out hard is an essential part of any fat loss plan. It sculpts your muscles, raises your resting metabolism, whittles down your waist and gives you functional strength and endurance.

The only catch is that you can seriously slow, or even reverse, your results by eating poorly. There’s nothing quite as frustrating as when you are working out like a champ only to face the same belly rolls each morning.

To keep you from giving up in frustration, I’ve put together the following 3 Easy Food Hacks to amp up your results.

Easy Food Hack #1: RICE

Rice is a big part of many a meal. There’s white rice, brown rice, stir fried rice, sticky rice, wild rice and the list goes on. All of these kinds of rice (yes, even brown rice) are packed with carb and calories. This is great, if you are a growing child or an athlete, but not so great for someone like you with a fat loss goal.

Rather than give up rice completely, because that would make your veggies and meat look really lonely on a half-empty plate, let’s turn to Easy Food Hack #1.

CAULIFLOWER RICE: Now, don’t get skeptical on me until you give this food trick a try. To make rice from cauliflower first wash it and trim the leaves and stems. Chop into small pieces and then run those pieces through a food processor with the grating attachment. This will result in a rice-like consistency. Place the cauliflower rice in a large skillet with a Tablespoon of olive oil and cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and you are good to go. Serve your normal vegetable and meat dishes over a bed of cauliflower rice just as you would traditional rice.

Easy Food Hack #2: NOODLES

Have you ever noticed that when you crave your favorite pasta dish, you’re actually just craving the sauce? Noodles alone are bland and unspectacular. The magic, as well as the protein, is in the sauce.

Noodles, like traditional rice, are packed with calories and carbs that get in the way of your fat loss results. So, rather than just eating a bowl of sauce, try Easy Food Hack #2.

ZUCCHINI NOODLES: Again, try this trick before you knock it, I’m guessing that you’ll be pleasantly surprised. Wash a zucchini, and then run a vegetable peeler down its sides, creating long, wide noodles. Stop when you reach the inner, seedy part of the zucchini. These raw, zucchini noodles do not require any cooking, simply throw them onto your plate and top with your favorite pasta sauce. (Of course, I’m assuming that you’re not going to use a white, cream-based sauce, but that’s another article for another day.)

Easy Food Hack #3: BREAD, BUNS, TORTILLAS

Cauliflower rice and zucchini noodles are all find and dandy for those meals that you prepare at home, but what about your meals eaten out? Many restaurant meals revolve around bread, buns or tortillas. These things are tasty, yet filled with calories and carbs that add to those annoying belly rolls.

That’s when you turn to Easy Food Hack #3.

THE LETTUCE WRAP: This trick is more popular than the first two, so you may already be familiar with it. How does it work? When ordering your meal, be it a sandwich, burger or tacos, ask that it be wrapped in lettuce in place of the bread, bun or tortilla. Most places are really cool about it, and you end up getting to eat the good part of the meal – the meat and flavors—without the carb-filled extras. If for some reason the restaurant is unable to wrap it in lettuce for you, then ask for the filling to be placed on a pile of greens and eat it with a fork.

Try these 3 Easy Food Hacks out for the next 30 days, and see how quickly your fat loss results ramp up. The improved results will motivate you to workout harder and more consistently, which will then add to an even greater level of fitness.

If you aren’t yet one of my clients, now is the perfect time for you to start. My focus is to get you to your goals using my results-driven method.

Simply call or email me today to set up your first workout.

Powerful Lifestyle Hacks

The real fat loss benefits from the 3 Easy Food Hacks above come when you make this way of eating a part of your lifestyle. It may sound strange or hard at first, but – like anything—once you grow accustomed to that style of eating it will feel comfortable, and you will be leaner!

Slow Cooker Turkey Spaghetti over Zucchini Noodles

Making noodles out of fresh zucchini dramatically cuts down on the carbs and calories in your dinner, while increasing the fiber content. Imagine what an impact this simple food trick could have on your fitness results if you always chose zucchini noodles over traditional noodles.

Courtesy of RealHealthyRecipes.com

What you need
Servings: 6

1 Tablespoon olive oil
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 fennel bulb, chopped
4 carrots, sliced
1 cup mushrooms, sliced
¼ cup chopped olives
2 (14.5 oz) cans diced tomatoes
1 (14.5 oz) can tomato sauce
2 Tablespoons tomato paste
½ cup dry red wine (Cabernet works well)
2 Tablespoons Italian seasoning
½ teaspoon sea salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
¼ teaspoon sweet paprika
1 pound ground turkey
6 zucchinis
¼ cup fresh Italian parsley, chopped

Instructions

1. In a large skillet, place the olive oil over medium heat. Add the garlic, onions and fennel. Cook for 5 minutes, until soft. Add the carrots, cover and cook for another 5 minutes. Remove from heat.

2. Coat the inside of your slow cooker with olive oil. Add the cooked veggies, mushrooms, olives, tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste, wine and the seasonings. Mix well.

3. Add the turkey on top of the veggie mixture, breaking it into chunks. Lightly press the turkey down into the sauce, but be careful not to break up the chunks.

4. Cook on low heat for 7 hours.

5. Wash the zucchini, use a vegetable peeler to create long, flat noodles. Stop when you get to the seedy middle part of the zucchini. Plate the zucchini noodles and top with warm turkey spaghetti sauce. Sprinkle with chopped parsley.

Nutrition
One serving equals: 276 calories, 8g fat, 383mg sodium, 18g carbohydrate, 6g fiber, and 21g protein