Avocado Salsa with Tomato & Fennel

(Serves 2)

Ingredients:

Juice of 1/2 lemon
1/4 avocado, pitted, peeled and finely chopped
2 tbsp finely chopped tomato
2 tbsp finely chopped fennel
1 tbsp finely chopped fennel fronds
1 1/2 tsp EVOO
Sea salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

Add all ingredients to a small bowl, cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

Calories: 79, Total Fat: 7g, Carbs: 4 g, Fiber: 2g Sugars: 1g, Protein: 1g, Sodium: 65mg, Cholesterol: 0g

You can have this with grilled Salmon and place salsa on top, add to black beans and wrap in a tortilla, or add to your salad and ENJOY!

Quick Tips to eating healthy when Pregnant

Making smart food choices can help you have a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby!

Don't skip breakfast! If you are feeling sick, start with 100% whole-grain toast. Eat more food later in the morning. 

Eat foods high in fiber! Veggies, fruits, whole grains, and beans. (Green Peas, Broccoli  Raspberries, Pears, Whole-wheat Spaghetti, Oatmeal, Black Beans, Lentils)

Choose healthy snacks! Low-fat Greek yogurt with fruit, or low-fat cottage cheese with fruit, whole wheat crackers and low-fat cheese, fresh veggie platter with peanut butter.

Limit your caffeine! Try having flavored water or just water instead of soda! Drink decaf tea or coffee. 

The Water Bar

Start with Flat Water or Sparkling Water

You can add in any of the following to make a yummy water cocktail:

• Lemon Wedge
• Lime Wedge
• Orange Slice
• Strawberry Slices 
• Kiwi Slices
• Cucumber Slices
• Frozen Grapes
• Watermelon Cubes
• Dash of fruit juice, cranberry, orange, grapefruit
• Mint Leaves
• Basil
• Grated Ginger
• Rosemary
• Crushed Ice
• Ice Cubes Raspberry mint ice

"I have no Motivation" Excuse!

No two people are motivated by exactly the same things. Some of us are internally motivated, some need an inspiring story or person to help motivate them. No person can be pushed to be motivated because if motivation doesn't come from you genuinely, you will fail.

My advice: remember a time when you worked out and how GREAT you felt afterwards, or remember a meal you had where you ate to much and felt yucky, most of all REMEMBER WHY you want to be healthy and lose/gain weight! You can do this! 

Check out fb.com/gerberfitness for some other motivation tips and success stories!

Saying you're too overweight to exercise is like saying you're too skinny to eat.

    Your body needs exercise just the way your body needs food. No matter how overweight you are, you can do something to start the process of losing fat, strengthening your bones, and relieving your joints of the load that they're carrying.
    Start small: Walk 5 minutes day, and increase by 1 or 2 minutes every few days. Soon, you'll be fit enough to walk an hour a day. You can even start small with resistance training. Doing simple exercises with soup cans or books will stimulate your muscles in new ways-and begin the process of kick-starting your metabolism so your body can burn fat.

If you want to live longer, start today. Your family-and your younger body-will thank you.

It's too expensive to eat healthy EXCUSE.

According to the grocery breakdown data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, here’s where our grocery dollars are going per person:

Processed Foods & Sweets – $66.87
Meats – $62.78
Fruits and Vegetables – $42.63
Grains & Baked Goods – $42.05
Beverages – $32.41
Dairy Products – $30.95
Other Foods – $14.31

In doing some basic addition that comes to $155.64 for junk and $136.36 for meats, fruits, vegetables, and dairy.
It seems to me, if you slashed your spending on junk and instead put all of that money towards good, nutritious foods, the “good stuff” wouldn't seem so expensive.  In fact, if the average two-person family just doubled their meat, vegetable, fruit, and dairy and cut out all junk, they’d actually save $40 per month.  This is a simple argument, but the point is valid: if you cut out the crap, the good stuff really shouldn't have much of an effect on your budget.
I think the root of the problem is, in an attempt to eat better, people spend more on good stuff without cutting out the junk, thus the appearance that healthy food causes them to blow through their budget.

Time Management....

This is by far one of the hardest parts of my day! I struggle to stay on task. In my mind if I can do 10 things at one time then I'm getting more out of my time. Right!....
WRONG!
Multitasking doesn't make us as productive as we think! Our quality of work actually decreases and it can actually be wasting time instead of creating new time.
The simple reason multitasking doesn't work is because we can't actually focus on more then one thing at a time, our mind just thinks we can!

So imagine you are on the phone with someone and you are following up with a question from customer at the same time. Both of these tasks take communication, you can't talk to someone and write a focused well explained email at the same time, it's to conflicting. Your mind will get overloaded at this point. Now say you are writing an email and listening to someone at the same time. This task is a bit easier, but the person you are listening to will fade in and out. You simply can't focus on both tasks at once.

Another downside is the stress levels of dealing with multiple things at once. You feel overwhelmed  drained, and under appreciated. At the end of the day you don't feel like you really accomplished anything.

How do you stop multitasking??? Here are some ideas "m trying out to help me improve my time management skills:

• Plan your day in blocks. Set time aside for phone calls, emails, cleaning, etc...
• Keep a journal of what interrupts you the most. After one week look over your data and adjust what you need to in order to limit or take away these interruptions.
• Learn to focus on ONE task at a time. If you find your mind wondering take a 15 second break, breath and tell yourself "I'm in this meeting I need to focus on what I'm learning here!"

This is only a very small piece of time management! I hope this helps you have a more successful day!