Do you read SHAPE or SELF Magazines? Then you’ve probably read nutritional information by C&J Nutrition. In fact, they recently teamed up with SELF magazine to develop nutrition criteria for the first annual 2009 Food Awards and have authored the diet plans for the SELF Challenge in 2009 and 2010.
Stephanie and Willow are the experts and authors behind C&J Nutrition and I asked them to provide us with a Random Acts of Fitness & Spice challenge…probably their most prestigious assignment to date! Fitness & Spicers I give you the…
C&J Nutrition Random Acts of Fitness & Spice Challenge
Veggies are low in calories and deliver flavor, volume, phytonutrients, and vitamins/minerals to meals and snacks. We encourage everyone to include veggies in the majority of their meals and snacks . But it seems like all too often, veggies don’t take the spotlight during meals. In fact, sadly, they’re often forgotten altogether – making meals less filling and higher in total calories (not a good combination for meeting your 2010 weight and health goals!)
Our challenge to you is to create one dinner around a veggie this week.
Many people plan meals around protein and carbohydrates (pasta with meatballs, chicken and rice, turkey burgers), and save veggies as the side dish. We challenge you to plan a meal around a veggie and then add protein and carbohydrates as your side dishes. Here’s a veggie-centered meal idea that we love: Roasted eggplant marinara with whole wheat penne tossed with grilled chicken, olive oil, and parmesan cheese on the side.
And if we may offer an even longer-lasting challenge… try creating a veggie-centered at least once per week, every week. You might just be surprised that once you start seeing veggies as the star of the show, your dinner options get tastier and more creative.
Want to learn more tips like this from C&J Nutrition? Then follow Stephanie and Willow on Facebook and watch them tweet what they eat on Twitter!
As someone who usually plans my meals around protein, I am totally accepting this challenge! Who’s with me?
Now I really must go get mySELF into SHAPE and make some plans to veg out!
