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Quickie Meals

The following should offer ideas for whipping together supportive quickie meals to make certain you don’t miss out when a complete meal is not accessible or convenient. 

Meal Replacement Recipes

Many of my clients have found creative ways of varying the taste of the Beverly Nutrition Shakes. Keep in mind some of these do add a little simple sugar but the protein in the shake formulas slow the absorption of the sugar. The shakes I recommend taste delicious on their own, however, feel free to experiment on occasion.

Supportive Strawberry Milk Shake

Mix in frozen strawberries for a highly nutritious strawberry milk shake!

Peaches and Cream

Mix in some frozen peaches…peaches and cream?!?! Yumm!

The Ultimate Chocolate Shake

Mix 2 scoops of the Beverly chocolate with 10 ounces of water in a blender with some crushed ice. You won’t believe this chocolate shake can actually be good for you!

Some of the following options will require you to prepare ahead of time…but are highly portable to work and the preparation is simple - they can be stored individually in foil to make a quickie meal accessible at any time.

Complete Shrimp Cocktail Quickie Meal

½ lb Shrimp (fresh, uncooked)

Low Sodium Tomato Ketchup

White Horseradish

Broccoli

Celery stalks

Carrots

Fresh Spinach Leaves

Whole Grain Bread Crackers

Boil water. Pour uncooked shrimp in boiling water and remove from heat. Pour into strainer in 3 minutes. Refrigerate shrimp with crushed ice. Mix ketchup and horseradish to create cocktail sauce (vary amount based on preference). Cover plate with spinach leaves. Surround edge of plate with vegetables. Peel shrimp and place in middle of the plate. Squeeze lemon over shrimp. Use sauce for dipping. Eat with crackers for complete supportive meal.

Blended Quickie Meal

FAGE Total 2% or no fat yogurt (http://www.fageusa.com/products.html)

Skim Milk or Water

Dry Evaporated Powdered Milk

1 Banana (just ripe – skin should not be black at all)

Frozen Strawberries

Mix it all together in blender. You can get creative and come up with some blended varieties. Keep in mind, the addition of some sugared ingredients makes it a bit less supportive, but as a quickie, variety once in awhile might be fun.

Blended Non-Fat Yogurt, Banana, Berries, and Almonds

Blended Non-Fat Yogurt, Frozen Lime Juice Concentrate, Graham Crackers, Vanilla Flavor

Blended Non-Fat Yogurt, Cinnamon, Frozen Apple Juice Concentrate, Egg Protein Powder

Complete Salads as Quickie Meals

It helps if you stay prepared for supportive nutrition. One tip that makes getting regular meals a bit easier is preparing moderate quantities of food that you can refrigerate and throw together into a quick salad.  Marinating chicken breasts in fat-free Italian dressing, and grilling or broiling for 7-10 minutes allows you to very quickly have the “salad protein” accessible. These can be cut into slices and refrigerated. Hard boiled eggs are also quick to prepare and can be refrigerated to add protein to salads.

The fibrous carb part of salads is the easy part. Just buy fresh mushrooms, carrots, broccoli, and cauliflower and store in the refrigerator in Tupperware containers.

For starchy carbs, refrigerated brown rice, corn kernels, kidney beans, or peas make any salad delicious and complete.

EZ and Quick Yogurt Mini Meal

FAGE Total 2% or no free yogurt (http://www.fageusa.com/products.html)

Oatmeal

Sugar free granola cereal

Dried rice cereal

Raisins

Mix cereals and oatmeal together. Mix in yogurt. Add raisins.

Quickie Pita Sandwiches

Not unlike salads, quickie pita sandwiches can be quick and easy by preparing some meats or salads and vegetables in advance. Stuff some in a while grain pita pocket and you’re ready to go. These are ideal to take with you in a cooler for a couple of mid-day quickie meals.

A turkey sandwich on whole grain pita with some spinach leaves, tomatoes, sprouts, and a bit of mustard is a complete meal. It’s important that the turkey is turkey breast meat off of the frame of the turkey. Most packaged meats are so processed and so filled with additives and fillers, there resemblance nutritionally to turkey is minimal at best.

Preparing tuna salad in advance makes it easy to whip up a tuna pita sandwich with grated carrots, cucumber slices, green pepper, and onion. The only challenge in preparing supportive tuna salad is the fat in the mayonnaise. Try using some non-fat plain yogurt instead of mayo. If that doesn’t work for your taste buds, go with one of the low fat mayo substitutes.

Chicken white meat ground up in a blender with onions, celery, lemon juice, and black pepper makes a delicious chicken salad for a quickie pita sandwich. Try adding a bit of non-fat Italian dressing. A bit of miracle whip might add a bit of moisture and consistency.

Delicious egg salad can be made with 4:1 egg whites to yolk. Chip hard boiled egg whites and yolks with celery, onions, and green pepper. Add paprika and black pepper and mix with a bit of Miracle Whip and mustard.

Corn Tortilla Quickie Meals

Corn Tortillas offer starchy carbs and make a nice wrap for a quickie meal. For a delicious and complete vegetarian option, combine brown rice, black beans, and any vegetables in mixing bowl. Serve in corn tortillas. Strips of chicken breast, spinach leaves, and salsa make a complete “quickie” easy.

Brian Calkins' No Bake Protein Bar

5 tbsp natural peanut butter (chunky or smooth)

1/2 cup dry oat meal or whole grain hot cereal (uncooked)

1/2 cup oat flour (double the dry oats if you do not have oat flour)

6 scoops chocolate protein powder (approximately 132 grams worth of low-carb protein powder)

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 tablespoons flax seeds (optional)

1 cup non-fat dry milk

1/2 cup water (depending on what type of protein you use, you may need to add more)

Modifications: Use vanilla protein and replace ~1/4 cup of the oatflour with a variety of nuts, seeds, or dried berries.

PREPARATION:

Spray an 8x8 baking dish with non-stick cooking spray. Combine dry ingredients in a medium size bowl and mix well. Add peanut butter and mix - the mixture will be crumbly and dry. Add water & vanilla.

Using a wooden spoon or rubber spatula, everything until a dough forms. The dough will be sticky. Spread dough into pan using a clean wooden spoon or spatula that has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Refrigerate a few hours (or freeze for an hour) and cut into 9 squares. Wrap bars individually (use sandwich bags or plastic wrap) or store in covered container between sheets of wax paper. Keep refrigerated.

Nutritional Information Per Serving:

197 calories, 21 g protein, 7.2 g fat (8% saturated), 13.7 g carbohydrate, 1.6 g fiber

Eating on the Road

Eating is the hard part!?!?!?! Isn’t that bizarre? For decades, people trying to get lean have been taught to avoid food, to cut calories…to virtually starve themselves. Now, as you are uncovering the truth to developing a healthy, energized, vibrate and leaner body, you’re beginning to understand the importance of fueling the body frequently. That means eating…small meals frequently!

Once people “get it”, once they understand the structure behind the HealthStyle Fitness programs, they quickly adapt to the exercise. They also begin to differentiate between good and bad meals. And then…when they try to put it all together…they realize the hardest part of all is getting ENOUGH food!

If you’re at that stage, stay with it. After awhile, as veteran fitness enthusiast will tell you, your appetite develops, you create some new habits, and eating every 3-3 ½ hours just becomes part of who you are. Still, there are pitfalls. The occasional party. The vacation. The celebratory dinner. I believe it’s best to give in to those events and occasions. Eat in a manner that supports your health & fitness goals most of the time and it gives you some room to enjoy those pig out opportunities without suffering for it. The pitfall, however, that many of you are faced with is the one that isn’t a “once-in-awhile” event. It’s the pitfall that traveling in the pursuit of daily business presents.

Many of us use travel throughout the day in our cars, and for others airplanes have become a routine experience. As business people, we are often called upon travel from city to city, hoping to find a workout, and doing all we can to maintain supportive nutrition programs. As we scurry through airports, pizza and donuts call from every food counter. So do those soft chewy pretzels. I speak from experience. Sure, I’ve given in to my share of airport pizza and chewy pretzels, but I’ve also managed to limit those moments of submission to isolated instances. Whether we travel via auto or fly through the air, “the road” is often an obstacle that stands in the way of our desire to stick to our fitness commitments. Thankfully, that obstacle can be overcome!

I’ve taken the secrets to staying with it and converted them into Eight Simple Tips for Maintaining Your Fitness Commitment on the Road! Live by these eight tips and you’ll actually find your return from your daily or extended trips without the slightest fitness backslide! In fact, you may begin to welcome “the road” as it brings you to new gyms, stimulates your exercise creativity, and has you feasting on a new menu of supportive meals.

1. Know the Four Backup Staples: Meal replacement packets, rice cakes, water, and Tupperware!

Those of us who eat in a manner that supports toned muscle and low levels of body fat strive to obtain supportive nutrition every three to four hours. If you stay in a hotel, there’s always room service, those nice polite people who show up at your door with fancy foods on fancy trays. The catch is, the room service menu is often limited and is sometimes void of the options you’d normally choose, and can often rip holes in your budget or expense account. If you’re in the car, the drive through lanes of the fast food summon you at ever intersection, yet you already know the challenges in finding healthy meals at drive through windows. Never Fear! Every convenience store has bottled water and rice cakes and every hotel has an ice machine. I’ve found the investment in $3 Tupperware one-pint containers a very useful one. When I travel, I always pack my meal replacement in Zip-Lock baggies. Shaking up a protein powder or a meal replacement with some water allows me to convert a few rice cakes into a meal chock full of protein and whole grain carbs. This is ideal for the airplane, hotel room, or the car. You can keep the protein powder or meal replacement powder in the container or smaller baggies and when it’s time, bottled water can be purchased at any hotel, gas station, or airport cafeteria. In fact, If you develop the habit of including two of these supplemental meals a day, simply finding the three “normal” meals (breakfast, lunch, and dinner) can be all you need to get nutrients into your body every three or four hours.

I’ll admit rice cakes and a protein drink doesn’t sound like an event that will send your taste-buds aflutter, however, your body and energy will appreciate the small sacrifice. In fact, with the newest products on the market, the protein drink may actually prove to be a tasty treat! I personally use Beverly International’s meal replacement shakes and they taste great.

2. Locate the restaurants that can prepare the types of meals you like and order the next meal in advance.

In the cities I travel to frequently, I make certain I befriend servers who understand my fitness & nutritional needs. I’ll usually find a restaurant that can prepare an egg white omelet made with as little butter or oil as possible. Add a few fresh mushrooms, some spinach, or green peppers and the omelet increases in taste and value. As a side, oatmeal is pretty simple to find. While I’m eating, I’ll ask the friendly server to prepare a supportive “lunch”, wrap it up to go, and I’m all set for my next meal.

You can pick up a soft cooler that actually folds up when it’s empty and maintains freshness in refrigerated foods for several hours. It will keep tuna salad on whole grain bread in nice condition for three or four hours. A zip lock bag filled with ice from your hotel ice machine also will do an excellent job of keeping food cold and fresh for a few hours.

If you travel to different cities, find out how regional foods are prepared and then enjoy the cuisine that the locals are fond of. If you travel to San Antonio, for example, you wouldn’t want to miss some of the exceptional Mexican restaurants. Just make certain you avoid the fried tortillas. Order chicken or shrimp in corn tortillas and ask for rice prepared without butter. Chinatown in New York or San Francisco? Fantastic! You can order fresh white meat poultry or seafood with steamed vegetables. Anywhere along the coastline you can find fresh seafood prepared baked, grilled, or boiled. Learn which restaurants will prepare the more supportive meals and work them into your travel itinerary. And…if it’s affordable, sushi in a Japanese restaurant with brown rice and a side salad might be the best meal you can find.

3. Order breakfast the night before with specific time and instructions

Most hotel restaurants can prepare supportive breakfasts. Many even have a “healthy breakfast” item on their menu. That healthy option can range from a garden omelet to yogurt with granola and some fresh fruit. Since mornings are usually rushed on out of town trips, you can call room service the night before. Plan for your breakfast to arrive 30 minutes after your wake up call. That should give you time to shower and allow you to begin your day with your nutrition off to a great start. If the hotel menu is limited, you can pick up some dry cereal in a nearby grocery store and simply order egg whites with an extra bowl and a glass of skim milk. Low fat milk + cereal + egg whites = nice breakfast.

If you travel locally but leave home early, take 5 minutes and prepare your breakfast the night before. It’s not the “eating” that takes all the time, but the preparing + eating. It can be as simple as opening a can of pineapple chunks (remember, no sugar or heavy syrup in the can) and dumping them into a large Tupperware stored in the fridge. In the morning you just dump in some plain fat-free yogurt and a few handfuls of Healthy Choice Granola cereal (or a less tasty but more supportive one you find in the health food store-such as unsweetened puffed rice). No, it’s not a breakfast befitting the world’s great chefs, but it’ll give you a much valued load of amino acids with vitamins and minerals first thing in the morning. Morning preparation=1 minute or less.

4. Stay in a hotel with a fitness center

Years ago this might have been a challenge; however, a few phone calls will easily locate a hotel with a workout amenity. You can even ask your travel agent to make certain that all of your hotels have an exercise room. There are those that list “exercise room” and have a set of cables from 1940 with a beat up old exercise bike, but a phone call before your travel should make certain the workout area is adequate.

Many hotels also have affiliations with major health club chains that allow you to workout at a discount or in some cases for free. Thanks to the internet, you can now even shop from home finding which hotels have fitness amenities. Two websites that can help you are www.sidestep.com and www.1hotelfinder.com.

5. Don’t require perfection, simply make the best choices possible

“Better Bad Choices.” If you can’t get to an optimal meal, there’s no need to run to the nearest greasy burger joint. No, the chicken breast that’s been marinated in oil will not be as lean as the one you cook at home, but it’s far better than a high fat cheeseburger. Realize that “pretty good” is much better than most people do on their fitness commitments while on the road. Allow yourself room to enjoy a few less supportive meals and make the best choices you can on the meals in between. Even some of the fast food restaurants (Wendy’s) offered a grilled chicken breast, a baked potato, and a salad bar and if you can find a Pollo Tropical, the black beans, rice, salsa, and grilled chicken can serve you relatively well…far better than a Whopper or a Big Mac.

Also recognize the value of the deli counter in the supermarket. We tend to get caught up in the thinking that we have to eat our lunch in a restaurant. We often pay the price both in dollars and in fat. In order to add taste, restaurants are notorious for marinating, frying, and dousing with spice and oils. Most grocery stores, delis, and supermarkets can prepare a turkey breast sandwich on whole grain bread with some lettuce and tomato. While it’s hard to find a restaurant meal that runs less than $10 + tip, you can get your nutrients from the deli counter, pay with a $5 bill, and even get a few cents change!

6. Running Shoes

While we have become spoiled by the huge array of cardiovascular options available at health clubs, the most versatile investment you ever make might be a pair of running shoes! Wherever business or leisure takes you, throw on your running shoes and you’re ready for your aerobic workout. It might be a jog around Central Park in New York, or even a trip up a few flights in the hotel staircase. There’s no excuse for missing aerobic workout, wherever you are!

Throw a jump rope in your bag and you’re even better prepared.

7. Ask for a fridge

There are many suite hotels that offer a kitchen, and some will even provide a grocery shopping service. (Check out Marriott Residence Inn, Amerisuites, or Extended Stay America). When I travel for an extended period of time, the extra cost in a small suite saves me a small fortune in restaurant meals and allows me all the nutrition flexibility I have at home.

While many hotels cannot provide a kitchen, for a small investment they can provide a refrigerator. Most people aren’t aware that refrigerators are available, but often all it requires is a request to get that little fridge delivered by a hotel employee. If you’re in a hotel that has a mini bar, you’re not likely to find supportive nutrition in Snickers bars and Budweiser. Upon your request some hotels will clear the mini bar allowing you to use it for your own food (some hotels have charged me a whopping $5 for serve). Stock it with yogurt (FAGE Total 2% or no yogurt), sliced turkey breast, and a few other options and you’re prepared to eat without the slightest bit of guilt or regret.

8. Know what supplements can help

If you travel through different time zones, jet lag can throw your energy levels out of whack. There are some supplements that can help you make sure those out-of-town workouts are inspired. Firstly melatonin does help with stabilizing altered sleep patterns and has proven to be a nice aid to minimizing the effects of jet lag. Secondly, there are several products on the market which provide quite a kick by incorporating herbal caffeine (guarana, Kola Nut, or green tea) into their formulation. You’ve no doubt heard or read warnings regarding these products, so avoid a dependence on them, but to power up the post-flight workout, I’ve found them to be of some benefit in boosting training drive and intensity.

With these eight simple tips, there’s no reason to let a few days, weeks, or even months of travel interrupt the commitment you’ve made to being the best you can be!

Enjoy your travel!!