Fancy, healthy, delicious recipe: lemon garlic broccoli with bacon and scallops

I try new healthy recipes fairly often but now that I’m a full-time online health and fitness coach (meaning I work from home) AND the weather and Pittsburgh is getting colder, I wanted a way to ensure I had a reason to get my butt to the grocery store every week (last winter was freezing so it was hard to motivate myself to leave my house for non-essential errands… like getting food haha). So… one of my New Year's resolutions was to try a new healthy recipe at least once every 2 weeks! The recipe I picked out this week was from my Inspiralized cookbook by Ali Maffucci: lemon garlic broccoli with bacon. And since I’ve always wanted to learn how to make my own seared scallops and they seemed like a great accompaniment for my broccoli, I decided to make those too!

My definition of what I consider to be healthy foods has changed and evolved throughout the years based on the latest research as well as how my body responds to certain foods and the needs of my lifestyle. I used a lot of healthy fats in this recipe (yes, including butter, which I spent majority of my life avoiding!) and bacon. I am super careful that anytime I am eating healthy fats/meats like this, I buy the REALLY high-quality versions (meats and butter that come from grass-fed, hormone-free organically-raised animals; the bacon is organic and nitrate free as well; any oils I use are all organic). But if your definition of “healthy” varies from this, you can easily omit the meat and replace the butter with olive oil.

One of the things that I LOVED about the broccoli recipe was that it also showed me how to use the stems, which I normally throw away even though I hate wasting them! I used my Vegetti to turn the long broccoli stems into “broccoli pasta.” For tips on how to use a veggie spiralizer, you can watch my demo of zucchini pasta here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uY5w3dHoyL0.

For the broccoli dish:

I chopped up the broccoli (3 large heads) and spiralized the stems. Meanwhile, I brought a saucepan (about half full of water with some Himalayan sea salt added) to a boil. I added the broccoli to the boiling water and cooked until tender. The next time I make this recipe, I will use a steamer instead. I like the texture of steamed veggies better (plus you preserve more of the nutrients)!

While the broccoli was cooking, I used a skillet to start cook the bacon (about 8 pieces cooked in olive oil for a few minutes on each side, until desired crispness). I removed the bacon from the skillet once cooked and set it on a paper towel-lined plate off to the side. I drained some of the excess oil from the skillet but didn’t clean it (I figured the remaining oil and bacon grease combo would give the dish some extra flavor and it did)!

Next step was to add the cooked and drained broccoli to the skillet over medium heat, along with some Himalayan sea salt and pepper, about 4 cloves of minced garlic, and the juice from 1 small lemon. When the broccoli mixture was cooked to desired texture (about 5 minutes), I added in the bacon (cut or ripped into small pieces) for another minute or so.

Voila’! I rarely measure things when I cook (hence the lack of exact specifications in this recipe) but I promise this recipe is super flexible and can be adjusted for your own tastes. Exact measurements not necessary :)

For the scallops:

I have always been told scallops are really easy to make- they were BEYOND easy. Makes me question why I pay so much for them in restaurants haha! I got fresh, never-frozen, wild caught scallops from Whole Foods- they were unbelievably delicious.

To cook them, I used the same pan the broccoli and bacon had been in for extra flavor (although honestly I think the majority of the flavor comes from the butter the scallops are cooked in). Even though the pan had some remaining oils from the broccoli and bacon dish, I melted some grass-fed butter in the pan- enough to coat it. I spread out the scallops in the pan and then added a small pat of butter on top of each scallop (recommendation from a friend). When I could tell the bottoms were getting crispy, I flipped them over (the pat of butter goes with it and the other side cooks in that). Again, no exact specifications. I think I had it on medium-high heat and cooked for about 2 minutes on each side. I could tell when they were ready by pressing down on them with the spatula- I was able to notice when they started to firm up.

I’m so glad I made the broccoli dish and scallops together- it was a great combination meal! Cheers to the first new recipes of the year! I hope you enjoy!

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Disclaimer Copy: Katelyn Lesk is an Independent Beachbody Coach.

Train people how to treat you- especially when it comes to your health!

This is a long post but this has been coming up a lot lately as many people I know are getting bombarded with holiday treats and I think it's a VERY important message to reinforce.

We truly train people how to treat us.

Scenario 1: When someone is being blatantly disrespectful.

How to handle it: We have to rise up in our self-worth and self-power and take a stand.

Scenario 2: The disrespect comes in the form of subtle pushing against our goals, often disguised as the person presenting it as if they have our best interests in mind. Examples: "loosen up, have a drink!" "You can work later, come have fun with us!" "Have that piece of cake- stop being so uptight and live a little!" "You need to be able to have SOME treats." In reality, this person does not have our best interest in mind. Or they feel bad about their own choices and want a partner in crime.

How to handle it: Learn to stand strong. Brush off any teasing or taunting and stand firm with your priorities. A long time ago, a friend taught me not to worry about what coworkers/friends/family would say when we were out at lunch together and I wanted to order something healthy like a salad. Despite comments of, "wow, someone's being healthy, huh?" or "what, passing on the free bread?" or other comments that insinuate there is something wrong/different/bad about you for ordering a salad when the rest of the crowd is indulging (especially when it's a new change and not something they're used to seeing from you), I learned to shrug it off and order the healthy meal anyway. After a while, I have learned to be firm and say confidently, "yep! I have so much more energy and feel so much better when I eat healthy!" You know what happened? Those comments stopped coming. And over time, some of my coworkers and friends followed my example and started ordering healthier meals too. Side benefit is that you stop being an enabler of unhealthy choices by no longer being their partner in crime!

I had to do the same with friends who would push me to drink when I was out. In 2011/2012, my job was incredibly stressful and because my anxiety was so high at the time, if I was going to go out and even attempt to have fun, I needed to feel 100% in control (so no alcohol for me). I made it clear to my friends that if they wanted me to hang out with them, they'd have to let me enjoy the night without pushing me to have a drink with them. They were great, and they did. They knew I was telling them that from the heart and they wanted to be supportive. At this point in my life, I'm not opposed to some drinks with friends, but too frequently makes me not feel so good. But they still to this day know not to push me. Sometimes I'll have a drink with them, sometimes I don't- and that's all ok with them. Often times they'll look in my cup and say, "water tonight?" Yup :) Real friends want to hang out with you because they enjoy your company, not because of what you're expected to do together. It comes in REALLY handy now with coaching since I'm often doing workout/nutrition programs where I limit or cut out alcohol entirely!

Scenario 3: When taking a stand becomes trickier is when someone actually did have our best interest in mind but was unaware of our goals or their values don't necessarily align with ours. For example, a friendly neighbor drops off a plate of cookies. Within this scenario, there are several sub-scenarios:

Group setting, one-time situation: This could be something like major temptations at a big party or special occasion. These are the ones I most often justify indulging. Get very clear before the event what your goals/priorities are. In reality, not many things are one-time occurrences. Parties, weddings, holidays, vacations, and other special occasions come up frequently. *Special* occasions do not necessarily imply *rare* when it comes to the big picture so we still need to be mindful of our big-picture health goals. I'm not saying, NEVER indulge! I'm suggesting to first make sure it's really ALIGNED with what you want. Here are my tips for how to handle parties: http://katelynlesk.blogspot.com/2015/09/football-or-holiday-party-tips.html. Stick with your goals and do what you need to do. Like scenario 2, don't be afraid to put your foot down and stand strong if someone's pushing you.

Group setting, on-going: For example, cake in the break room. Office treats, family get-togethers, parties with your friends- all of these are regular occurrences where you will be faced with temptation. I say on-going because in any of these scenarios, you will be with the same group of people each time when faced with these temptations. So it's very important that you make it CLEAR what your on-going goals/priorities are. You have the OPPORTUNITY to have that conversation, stay firm, and make the rest of those occurrences EASIER! At my old office, my coworkers were very clear on what I would/wouldn't eat. It kept me strong because after I made it clear that "I don't eat cake" (or whatever dessert their wives would send in), I wasn't tempted to have any because I couldn't go back on my word! I used to do the same thing when the holiday candy would come in from vendors- I would get sassy about it and brag that I wasn't going to have a single piece! Then it became a sort of competition. And you know what? Every year that I actually *announced* it, I held strong!

Here's what happened: less and less people started eating the treats and they would often go to waste. So people stopped bringing them in! We had a small office (i.e. 5-6 people) so everyone was aware of each other's habits. In time, all the treats became less and less frequent. Take a stand and TRAIN people!

Individually targeted, one-time: someone gifts candy or cookies specifically to YOU. If you're in a setting (like your office) where you can politely thank them and take them home, don't worry about it! Once you're home, you can give them away or worst case, throw them away. I hate waste as much as the next person but I figure if they are not healthy and end up in my belly, that's wasteful too (plus that puts my workouts to waste)! Or if you want to have a little, GO for it! And enjoy it! Then freeze or give-away the rest.

Individually targeted, on-going: similar to the previous scenario, but you have a feeling that they might be gifting you some treats again. Show appreciation but between now and the next time you suspect you might be getting some treats from them, CLEARLY communicate your goals. I had to do this with my mom who would buy me a box of chocolates every year for Christmas. One year I told her in October (way before she would have bought them) that I didn't want any candy that year (or any year in the future) because I was trying to eat healthier and I don't want to have that temptation around. It can be tough to set that boundary but it is SO WORTH IT because once you do, you don't have to worry about it again in the future! She was very understanding and I'm so glad I set that standard along time ago so I don't have to worry about it this year!

I have to do this a lot with my TIME as well. A lot of people think that because I'm a full-time coach and work from home, that I'm available whenever. They don't realize how much work I put into this and how busy I am. I not only have to say no to a lot of plans, if it's an on-going demand on my time, I have to be very clear about my time limitations. It doesn't necessarily feel good- especially because there are often a lot of people I care about and want to see and spend time with. But I need to be diligent about setting boundaries and limits on the demands on me and my time and make sure I'm getting in enough time to do what I need to do for my coaching (which also happens to be something I care DEEPLY about) as well as "me time" to recharge. Learning how to set clear time boundaries has been an on-going learning experience for me for the past couple years.

The ONLY person who knows what's best for you is YOU. No matter what the demand is (time, food, lifestyle, respect), anything that might derail you from taking care of your body, your health, your confidence and self-worth, your dreams, and your values and priorities is not ok. Don't feel bad about setting limits and creating boundaries. Who knows, you may inspire some people along the way to make healthier choices and stand up for themselves too!

Stand strong!! It will make your life a whole lot easier, healthier, and aligned with what is truly best for you!

Food indulgences, life pressure, and how to deal with it all!

Real talk story for all of you.

Yesterday, not even sure of what triggered it, I got a huge craving to order some food. I think the busyness of the Halloween weekend put me in the mood to just stay put yesterday and some comfort food seemed in order. I knew deep down this was not a good idea- my digestive system has been off a little lately, I’ve been eating at restaurants a lot as-is, and quite frankly, I don’t even like the term “comfort food” because I associate it with some sort of weakness to be turning to anything outside of myself for comfort. But see? That’s exactly where the problem is. The fact that somewhere deep within me, I believe it’s “bad” to not be able to make myself feel better. Do we ever even stop to recognize how much pressure we all put on ourselves these days? I’m great at delegating work, I’m great at saying no to plans, I’m great at setting boundaries with my time, and yet still, somewhere in me is this need to figure it all out… to get it all right… and to do it now. I know I’m capable of whatever I set my mind to and yet when I see something I can improve or make better, I want to make that happen immediately. I do not consider myself a perfectionist- I think I’m pretty good at discerning what tasks need to be done with excellence and when it’s better to settle for “good enough”. But when it comes to my own internal state, I passionately seek improvement. And for as much as I feel I have a good perspective when it comes to work and the limits I put on it, there is still always a pressure I put on myself to accomplish the huge amount of things that are hanging over my head (I am definitely guilty sometimes of the “once I get that done, then I’ll be happy” mentality).

Anyways, how does this relate to food? I think we are ALL plagued by the pressures and demands on our time and energy (often self-inflicted). Even if I’ve gotten better at saying no to things or letting things go that just aren’t as important, it can still be exhausting to make those decisions all day long. I never *like* saying no to plans with a friend I care about, I don’t *like* having to throw in the towel about organizing the files on my old laptop even though they just aren’t that important anymore, and I don’t *like* putting extra work on someone else even if I truly can’t handle it all. In this modern age of go-go-go or say no-no-no, there is not a whole lot of emotional energy left by the end of the day to put towards the habit change we are trying to make. We’ve all done it- how many times have we said, “I’ve got to work on my eating habits,” “I’ve got to stop spending so much money,” “I need to get back in my exercise routine,” “or my old college favorite: “I’m never drinking again.” Haha. There’s plenty of things that we do because it feels good in the moment but doesn’t feel so great after. Sometimes it’s just a matter of recognizing the benefits we DO get out of it. For example, I eat at restaurants a LOT but I appreciate the social aspect of seeing friends regularly and taking advantage of all the cool new stuff this city has to offer. Sometimes, I recognize that I need to throttle it back, and I do. Sometimes it’s a matter of taking a step back and SEEING the bigger picture- where am I feeling tapped-out? And what can I do right now to begin to make that better?

World pressure:

For as much as I talk about the demands the world puts on us, I certainly don’t think it’s helpful to go into a victim mentality of feeling like it’s us against the world. It’s also the same world that offers us a limitless amount of incredible opportunities, wonderful people and connections, and beauty all around. It’s not the world’s fault- the world is just offering up a variety of stuff saying, “here you go! take it or leave it!” It is our job to remember that we have a choice of how we process, react to, and incorporate these constant stimuli. Not all of these pressures, or even the things we consider to be urgent and important, are truly life-or-death matters. Sometimes even recognizing that helps to take the pressure off and allow us to APPRECIATE all that we GET to do each day. I’m a huge fan of having a regular gratitude practice. I put links to several youtube videos I made at the bottom of this blog- feel free to watch if you’d like to know more about my own story and how I apply gratitude to each area of my life (including work, workouts, and the tough emotional stuff in life)!

Self pressure and limiting beliefs:

I think another reason it can be so disappointing when we feel like we’ve “fallen backwards” is the MEANING we bring to it. Think about it. Would splurging on a junk food meal be so guilt-inducing if we KNEW we would never do it again? Of course not! But instead, we tell ourselves things like, “I’ll never overcome this pattern,” “Why do I always do this to myself?” “I just can’t stop.” And we use it to reinforce every limiting belief that it will ALWAYS be this way, we will always carry the extra weight, be in debt, succumb to addictions, or whatever it is that we’re dealing with. “Always” is a harsh word. Sure, I still have patterns that I fall into and I still get disappointed when I do, but I have made a HUGE amount of progress in the last couple years. My whole outlook on life has become radically more aware. I feel more alive than ever. I do have a ton of healthy habits in place. And I seek improvement (mostly) from a place of self-love as opposed to shame, guilt, or self-hate (I wrote up some strategies about the emotional side of that here http://katelynlesk.blogspot.com/2015/09/love-yourself-to-where-you-want-to-be.html). We ARE making progress. It’s just in those moments when we’ve taken a step back that the sneaky fear voice is the loudest. Shut that sucker up and move on! (more on how to do that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Seg1IcDr9M).

How to deal with it all:

If I have one mission in life, it’s to help each person I work with see where their fears, stresses, pressures, doubts, and blocks are and to slowly but surely replace those with love. This is something I am CONSTANTLY working on with myself as well. It all starts with awareness and then perspective.

It’s important to remember we are exactly where we need to be. Every choice we made, we needed. We know this simply because we made them. We may know better now, but then, we needed it for a reason. Even seemingly “bad” choices are for our greater good. They are beacons to point out certain things in life. Discovering what we don’t want sends a rocket of desire to that which we DO want and motivates us to work towards it. It illuminates the path. Yes, my Thai food is illuminating the path to enlightenment :) Don’t you wish you would have gotten take-out now too? ;)

So for today I will eat my leftovers guilt-free (from Smiling Banana Leaf, by the way- if I was going to order Thai, at least I did it right) and use it as an opportunity to take a step back and see where I’m putting too much pressure on myself, where I am taking life too seriously, and where I can take back some of my power and rediscover my inner goddess :) And if I can help someone else discover their inner power along the way, then it was definitely worth the mild heartburn and stomach fullness :)

Don’t forget to remind yourself of your AWESOMENESS regardless of ANYTHING else!!!!!! I love you and I’m rooting for you!!!!

Gratitude, staying present, and first world problems

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xa0oqC1aCzw&index=29&list=PLXiky4MOw2FgchAG5-bDiEkDMPrCn70P_

Gratitude for the tough stuff

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsur7nrcsxc&list=PLXiky4MOw2FgchAG5-bDiEkDMPrCn70P_&index=1

Gratitude as it relates to work, why I don’t treat my business like a business, also workouts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJb-OAJSjE8&index=15&list=PLXiky4MOw2FjF0FZLuTXQeT__IwOADo3n

Doing things out of inspiration versus obligation, what to do when you get discouraged

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DNqEUZa_x8&index=17&list=PLXiky4MOw2FjF0FZLuTXQeT__IwOADo3n