Commit to your Challenge

Get motivated to eating healthy everyday and stay active.

This week it’s all about cleansing and resetting  your system, let's start with a day  full of clean eating.

Breakfast: Yummy Tummy Smoothie

Ingredients — Serves 2

• 4 tbsp hemp seeds
• 2 bananas
• 1 cup frozen organic raspberries
• 1/2 ripe avocado
• 1.5 cup hemp milk (or use almond or brown rice milk)
• 1.5 cup coconut water
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 cups (loosely packed) spinach
• Some ice

Health Benefits of this recipe:

Raspberries: Extremely detoxifying and cancer preventative due to the fibre (8 grams per 1 cup) and naturally occurring plant chemicals called ellagitannins. Remarkably anti-inflammatory due to a long list of phytonutrients and vitamin C. They are also wonderful for diabetics because of their blood sugar balancing effect.

• Spinach:  Most people think of iron when they think of spinach but this leafy green is more than just as source of iron. In fact, it’s an incredible source of vitamin A and K — natural beautifiers (hair and skin moisture), immune strengthener and bone builder.

• Hemp seeds:  A vegetarian source of “complete” protein. Plus they are a wonderful source of anti-inflammatory GLA. The protein and fat content help to keep your belly satisfied and your blood sugar balanced.

• Coconut Water: Source of electrolytes to quench your thirst. The one cup has more potassium than 2 bananas.

• Avocado: This adds a wonderful creamy texture and a boost of monounsaturated fatty acids that will help keep your waistline trim and your puffiness at bay.

• Cinnamon: Again, blood sugar balancing! So key for weight management helping you avoid sugar snacks.

 Lunch: Chickpeas avocado salad

Cardio and crunches aren't the only way to slim down your middle. Eating monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs), like the kind found in avocado, is proven to diminish belly fat.

You'll fall hard for those tender smashed chickpeas, the creamy avocado, and those crunchy salted sunflower seeds. Plus this "chicken" salad is mayo-free, so aside from being vegan, it's low in calories and saturated fat.

Dinner

Maple Grilled Salmon

These recipes will fuel your body with healthy nutrients for a nice, long workout and help get you back to feeling your best in no time!

Cardio

The American College of Sports Medicine reports that you can elevate your metabolism for up to 24 hours post-exercise by adding just one little twist to your exercise routine: intervals. All you have to do is inject brief periods of intense effort into your regular walks (or runs, swims, bicycling, elliptical sessions, etc). The intensity effectively resets your metabolism to a slightly higher rate during your workout, and it takes hours for it to slow down again. That equals ongoing calorie burn long after you've showered and toweled off.

If you're a walker and you typically exercise for 30 minutes, try adding a burst of jogging for 30 seconds every 5 minutes. As you become more fit, you can increase the interval length to a minute, and decrease the walking segments to 4 minutes. For the biggest metabolism boost, you'll want to make sure that the interval portion leaves you breathing hard