You would think that since Spring has hit the farm, we would clear our plates so we were able to manage the extra responsibilities required this time of years.
That would be too easy though, right?
Instead, we have decided to not only renovate our kitchen, bath and hall, but to also shift to a more “paleo” style diet and increase our exercise.
On the low end of the “mid-forties” I finally realized that the activity and calorie level that used to be an improvement, is now hardly maintenance, and it is time to make some hard changes to our lifestyle before things get out of hand.
But managing a healthy diet, higher activity levels in a kitchen like THIS…has been challenging.
We are close to being without a stove, (hello BBQ season) and our fridge will soon find a new home in the basement… which means fresh food needs to be eaten quickly, and healthy snacks without a lot of preparation are a requirement.
Add to that hauling, hammering and lifting… our energy needs are HIGH.
And our time is short.
So, instead of caving in and ordering pizza for the next 6 weeks, we loaded up on healthy snacks…not just for the kids, but for the hardworking hubby and myself.
The bars come in a variety of flavours (Chocolate Peanut Butter, Yogurt Peanut Crunch, Double Chocolate and my fave, Dark Chocolate MINT) They have 30 grams of healthy protein, and are gluten-free and a good source of calcium… all important things for holding the panels up while your husband takes FOREVER to screw them in.
Add to these, a variety of prepared veggie snacks, and a never ending source of hardboiled eggs, we have healthy, nutrient rich snacks to keep us going.. without the bloat, fatigue and TIME it takes to prep a sandwich!
We also love having an assortment of nuts to snack on when the hunger really hits… and have you ever tossed a soft boiled quail egg on an avocado??? Life altering!
Our goal is to not submit to the chaos of a destroyed kitchen, and sacrifice our goals for health, but to adjust our methods of cooking (boiled water, BBQ, raw and fresh) so that we aren’t doing without, but just doing differently.
Eventually our kitchen will be complete and we will be back to chef prepared meals (ha!) but I think we will make room in our pantry to continue to stock up on our Costco sized boxes of the Premier Protein bars.
And for a selection of healthy recipes, check the link for MORE ideas on using these protein rich ingredients in your meals!