This error message is only visible to WordPress admins

Error: There is no connected account for the user 10948237 Feed will not update.

Error: admin-ajax.php test was not successful. Some features may not be available.

Please visit this page to troubleshoot.

Main navigation

Kristy Denney

Food + Lifestyle from a mama of boys

Leave a Comment

Fit Fridays: Meet Muncher Cruncher

Megan from Muncher Cruncher is here to share a few of her healthy cooking tips.  Megan is a new blogger friend of mine, you know, we hang out on each others blogs frequently.  Funny thing is, we met a looong time ago on a double date.  Remember that Megan?  She was with one of Brett’s friends.  We met them at the movies, but we showed up totally unfashionably late.  The movie had started–we were lucky to find them in the dark theater.  I think we saw one of the Harry Potter movies, and well, I fell asleep.  Nothing like a good first impression:o)

Maybe she had forgotten about that.  Oops. 

Here’s Megan….

***************************************************

Hello Bloggers!!

My name is Megan Smith and I am a certified personal trainer and nutrition counselor who loves to bake, run,  blog, and watch The Bachelor…jk…but seriously. Those girls are crazy town, no? 

I am SO excited to get to do a guest post on Kristy’s Blog because I adore her!! She never fails to make my stomach growl and my mouth water with all of her recipes. I think I must comment something like…”ooohhh…ahhh….yum...I have to make that,” on every single one of her posts. Not even kidding. 

My goal in life is to show people how it IS possible to incorporate healthy eating and exercise habits into any lifestyle. I am a true believer that healthy is happy, and it is amazing to see how much a persons life can change when they decide to take care of their bodies. Kristy asked if I’d share some healthy recipe substitutions that can be made in the kitchen and a killer at home work out. Done and done. 

Cooking healthy doesn’t have to mean losing flavor. In fact, it shouldn’t. I think that more often than not you can enhance your food’s flavor by NOT masking it in loads of butter and cheese. 

Instead of butter, shortening or oil in baked goods: Use applesauce, prune puree, banana puree, fat free plain yogurt, fat free sour cream, or pureed white beans. I find in cakes, breads, pancakes, etc. Trading the fat straight across for a substitute works great. In cookies it may change the texture, so I will usually do 1/2 butter 1/2 substitute. 

Instead of butter or oil in cooking: Use calorie free cooking spray or nonstick pans. 

Instead of creamed soups: Use fat free milk based soups, mashed potato flakes, pureed potatoes, or tofu. 

Instead of dry bread crumbs: Use rolled oats, crushed bran cereal (Fiber One works GREAT), or whole wheat Panko.

Instead of one whole egg: Use two egg whites or 1/4 cup of egg substitute. 

Instead of white cane sugar: Use light brown sugar, Splenda, agave nectar, honey, or Stevia. 

Instead of enriched white grains: Use whole grains. Ie: Whole wheat pasta, whole grain bread, brown rice, bulgur, barley, quinoa, or cous cous. 

Instead of full fat cream cheese: Use fat free or low-fat cream cheese, neufchatel, or pureed low-fat cottage cheese.

Instead of ground beef: Use extra lean ground beef, chicken, or turkey breast. 

Instead of mayonnaise: Use reduced fat mayo or fat free yogurt. 

Instead of creamy salad dressing: Use fat free or reduced calorie dressings, flavored vinegars, salsa, or vinaigrette s. 

Instead of whole milk or cream: Use skim milk, soy milk, rice milk, or almond milk. 

To add flavor without calories: Play up your spices. Learn to use different seasonings. Spray butter is a great topping for steamed veggies or bread. Salsa is a great low-cal addition to baked potatoes, salads, and Mexican dishes. Cinnamon, honey, fruit, or Stevia is a great way to spruce up some oatmeal without adding sugar. The possibilities are endless! 

It is amazing the fat and calories that can be saved by just changing a few little substitutions here and there. Small changes can make a BIG difference when you are trying to eat healthy! 

Now, to the best part…let’s get sweaty.
This circuit workout is one of my favorites and can be done at home. It is a KILLER! I love circuit workouts because they are GREAT for burning fat, and you burn tons of calories overall. You can also adjust it to your level of fitness. All you need is a jump rope and some dumbbells! 

Round #1
Warm up Jump Rope 1 song (3-4 min)
Push ups 1 set of 15-20
Balancing Bicep Curls with dumbbells (stand on one foot to increase difficulty)
Plyometric Lunges 1 set of 15 (total of 30)
*with these start down in a lunge, and jump up switch legs in the air and land down in a lunge on the other leg. This counts as 1 rep.

Round #2 (Repeating round #1)
Jump Rope 1 song (3-4 min)
Push ups 1 set of 15-20
Balancing Bicep Curls switch legs this time
Plyometric Lunges 1 set of 15 (total of 30)

Round #3 (Repeating round #1)
Jump Rope 1 song (3-4 min)
Push ups 1 set of 15-20
Balancing Bicep Curls switch legs this time (switch legs ½ way through)
Plyometric Lunges 1 set of 15 (total of 30)

Round #4
Jump Rope 1 song (3-4 min)
At the end of the song do 30 straight jumps jumping as high and as fast as you can1

Plank for 1:30

Round #5
Jump rope 1 Song (3-4 min)
Again 30 straight jumps as high and fast as you can
1 set of 3 way lunges w/10 lb dumbbells (alternating front lunge 10, alternating side squat 10, alternating back lunge 10)
Plank 1:30
Jump rope finish 1 song (4 min)

AB Circuit
Sit down Hold 10 lb dumbbell, lift your feet up of the ground and twist side to side (15 to each side)
30 regular crunches
30 crunches with elbows to knees
*repeat this as many times as you want


You’re done!

************************************************

I love that Megan pointed out that cooking healthy can still mean creating flavorful meals with such simple substitutions.  I don’t care how healthy it is, if it tastes like cardboard, I’m throwing in the towel and grabbing a burger. 
And this workout.  Wow.  This will be a great change of pace to my daily date with the dreadtreadmill. 

Thank you Megan!


Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Kristy, I love that you do a “Fit Friday” post. It’s so fun to meet new bloggers. Her advice is awesome & I will have to do that workout…killer!! Have a great weekend

    Reply

  4. Kristy! I TOTALLY remember that!! hahah so funny. I remember you guys brought a bag of your own popcorn to eat and I LOVED that. So something I’d do…Thanks for the guest post! xoxoxo

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Privacy Policy