Get in a Healthy Halloween Spirit!

Is it me, or is October flying by?! Just 9 days until Halloween. Are you dressing up? I will be masquerading as Elastigirl, so eating clean will be key to looking my best in spandex!

Before I share some spooky recipe ideas, I wanted to remind you that Tony Horton's latest program, P90 is now available with discounted pricing through the end of October. Beachbody is also donating $5 from every P90 Challenge Pack sold in October to Wounded Warrior. For more info on P90 click here: P90 Info

Feel free to email me with any questions about the program before ordering. I want you to have the program that fits YOU.

Please check out my Facebook page for recipes, nutrition & health tips every day, too!  www.facebook.com/FitFanGurl

Now, how are you going to get into the "spirit" of Halloween without blowing your nutrition? Here are some fun ideas.

Banana ghosts with mini chocolate chip eyes and chocolate chip mouths (or carob) and peeled mandarins as pumpkins with celery stems. This is a bootiful idea for a snack or potluck tray.

Here's a yummy lentil Shepherds Pie recipe. Mound your mash into ghost shapes and use peas for eyes, and voila! Your baking dish is transformed into a graveyard. http://www.forksoverknives.com/lentil-shepherds-pie-with-rustic-parsnip-crust/












And how about some Cheesy Witch Fingers from One Green Planet? Now these are creepy! Here is the spell...Umm, I mean recipe:

These cheesy fingers may look really scary, but don’t worry, they are also really yummy. They are just cheese crackers with a chilling “handmade” touch. Combine 1 ½ cups flour, 1 ½ tsp. baking powder, 1 tsp. paprika, ½ tsp. salt and ½ tsp. cayenne pepper in a food processor. Pulse a few times to mix everything together. Add 1 cup room-temperature vegan butter and 1 cup vegan cheddar cheese shreds and process until everything is well-combined. Sprinkle some flour on a work surface. Remove the mixture from the food processor and shape into a tube. Divide the tube into 2-inch pieces. If you want to make witch toes, make 1-inch pieces. Roll each piece into a thin tube, pinching the tube slightly in the middle to make it look like a finger. Look at your own fingers for a guide but pretend you are a hundred years old – no smooth skin here. Using a toothpick or a fork tine, draw on knuckle lines. On the end of each tube, add a raw, skinless almond slice, pointy side up so that it looks like a fingernail. Arrange the fingers on a baking sheet, sprinkle with kosher salt and black pepper and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until they start to turn golden brown. Remove from the oven and let cool. Be careful when you’re eating these – keep track of whose fingers you’re chewing on.

Whatever you have planned for All Hallows' Eve, make sure you give that trick or treat candy to the Great Pumpkin and stay on track. Holiday parties are just around the corner, and you'll want to look and feel your best in your fancy party clothes! Have a howlin' good time!

Have you missed me?!!

I've been crazy busy, and spread thin online, too. My Instagram (@fitfangurl) and Facebook (Facebook) have been busy, I've been making a few videos for the You Toobs (YouTube),  but I've not been too active on Twitter (@FitFanGurl) and this blog has been neglected!
I aim to remedy that! I hope to be able to post at least weekly now.

So, to catch you up on the last six weeks:

     I'm in Physical Therapy for my knee. I had a Synvisc-1 injection, which was a waste of money, because my problem is really not in the joint space. It's a functional issue.  Evidently, my Vastus lateralis,  (the big outer quad muscle) is quite tight and my Vastus medialis (the small quad muscle toward the inside of the thigh) is quite atrophied. This causes my knee cap to be pulled toward the outside and because that tracking is off, I have pain in the kneecap and the tendon in which it is situated.
     The VMO muscle is hard to isolate. I've been put on restriction--no riding my bikes (wah!!) and no regular workouts. I can do upper body and core, but no squats, lunges, cardio, etc. It sucks. I have certain rehab exercises to do 2-3 times a day and I am supposed to ice 5 times a day, in addition to my twice weekly appointments with the therapist. Can you say TIME SUCK?

     The bad news, is that it's not working! My V. lateralis is tightening up worse and giving me pain, and my VMO is not growing, and my knee pain is not improving. Even the therapist is getting disappointed. I have a couple more visits before I see my Orthopedic doc again, and then I suppose we'll have to make a new plan.
     In the meantime, I'm feeling the effects of not getting my cardio fix. It's odd, but when I work out more, I actually eat less. I have been eating clean, but eating more, and I have been struggling with too many grains. This is ending TODAY. I am spanking myself and getting back on track.
   
     Besides the knee issues, other things going on that have been keeping me super busy are mostly kid-related.  My daughter is now in Middle School and she landed a big role in the upcoming musical production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. She is a Narrator with lots of stage time and solos! I'm very proud of her, but between rehearsals, taekwando, ASB, and her regular workload (she homeschools 2 days a week but 1 of those days she has a 5 hour rehearsal!), her schedule is HECTIC.

   





We went to Long Beach Comic Con this past Saturday and cosplayed together as Elastigirl and Violet from the Incredibles. It was a long day and a long drive, but fun!










     My best friend, Melissa, and I started a local social group for Star Trek fans.  We've had a few Away Missions, and hope to increase attendance at these. We went to the local Renaissance Faire last week in uniform, and to a Sky Show with telescope viewing at the Science Center last night. If you are in the greater San Diego area, check out our group page on Facebook! San Diego Away Team


     There is also a lot going on in my business. I'm blessed to have an amazing team of business partners and coaches to work with. The are positive, supportive and smart! We've also got some of the best world-class training and great programs to offer our clients. Even though I'm benched right now, I am still helping others change their lives, and that is a great feeling.