Back to the grind of things...

BREAKFAST

After taking two days in a row off from my morning workouts, let me tell you, saying that it was hard to get out of bed is a huge understatement. I woke up when my alarm went off at 5am but didn't manage to actually GET OUT of bed until a quarter to six. Once I got to the gym it was packed even more so than usual. I mean as packed as packed can be for six in the morning. I decided to take it easy this morning and instead of doing HIIT on the treadmill I decided to try it out on the elliptical. It went pretty well but it's definitely not as intense as it is on the treadmill. My max heart rate today was only 168.

Like most workouts, this morning's left me feeling glad that I went and gave me an added boost of serotonin when I got home. I wasn't sure what I wanted for breakfast so it took me a minute to settle with an egg and turkey sandwich with cheese. While heating up the skillet for my egg I decided to cut calories by grilling some oil marinated artichoke hearts instead that I just got from Costco last weekend (love the place). I sprinkled some nutritional yeast on the hearts to give it flavor and topped it off with a slice of lean turkey and a slice of fat free cheese on a sandwich thin.... Can I brag for a minute...that sandwich was AMAZZZZING!!! The hearts were so tender and being grilled in marinating oil made them very flavorful. It's my first time using nutritional yeast but definitely not my last. The yeast gave the whole sandwich so much more tasty. Best part about the sandwich is that it was only a total of 225 calories. I love it when I discover combos so good that I can't wait to make again, this was one of them.

I topped off breakfast with a Chobani peach yogurt with ground flax and a dash of granola and of course my green tea and water.

Nutritional Yeast

For those that are curious about nutritional yeast, it's yeast that has been cultured with sugarcane and beet molasses, then harvested, washed, and then dried. It's a great source for B-complex vitamins and is naturally low in fat and sodium yet strong in flavor. I like to use it as a flavoring agent. The taste of nutritional yeast is very similar to cheese so it's a great alternative. Here in Tucson the best price that I've found it for was $7.99/lb at Whole Foods, shockingly it was cheaper than the $11.99/lb at Sunflower market. The yeast itself is very light in weight so a whole pound, I imagine, would last you a good six months at least. Don't be discouraged by the sound of sprinkling yeast on your eggs because it really is a good tasting alternative to seasoning with plain salt and it has healthy benefits to it! Let me know what you think and what you use it on.