I took a chance a couple months ago and signed up for Butcher Box. I liked the idea of having (almost) all the meat I need for the month delivered to me at once, and also organic and grass-fed. The only meat I've been purchasing at the store lately is ground turkey and fresh sliced deli meat. What exactly is butcher box? Exactly what it sounds like - cuts of meat delivered to your door step. It comes to your house completely frozen and ready for you to move into your freezer, or fridge to thaw out. What comes in the box can be completely up to you. I always do the curated box which means I get to pick 6 items to add. It doesn't sound like a lot, but you need to also know that 1 selection of chicken breast is actually 3 lbs, divided into 3 vacuum sealed packs. This is the case with many of the products, so make sure you check how it's packaged so you know exactly how much product you'll be getting in your box.
My favorites so far? Chicken tenders, chicken breast, ground beef, ground pork, and the bacon. This is the first box we've received steaks in, so that will be determined after my son tried them out, but reviews I've read have been great. When it arrive at your house, it will be sealed up in an insulated box, ice cold. If you are at work, don't worry. It will be fine until you get home to put it away. It's that cold!! My last tip is watch for deals. A lot of times you can sign up when there is a "free for life" deal. This means you get that item for FREE with every box you order. To keep this "free for life" deal, you need to keep your subscription going. This means not cancelling. Don't worry though - you can easily skip a month or two and adjust deliveries. You can also use my link to get $30 off your first box. If you try it, let me know what was your favorite! Click for $30 off your first box: http://fbuy.me/oPKwU
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When it comes to measuring your health progress, you have quite a few tools at your disposal. Some information isn't as easy to get your hands on, like blood tests, because they require a doctor and a lab. These test can help you track your cholesterol, blood sugar, and even check for inflammation markers. At home you can monitor things like blood pressure, waist size, weight, and body fat percentage. Don't look at just these numerical items for progress! How are you sleeping? Are your clothes fitting better? Has your mood improved or maybe your skin is looking brighter? Let's be honest - people typically use the scale as their number 1 measure of progress. For some people, this is absolutely one of the best tools to use to measure progress. When someone is very overweight, watching the number on the scale decrease can be encouraging. How do use that tool to help you, and not hurt or discourage you? When is is appropriate to use it as your main mode of measurement and when is it better to use other tools? I'm touching on that today, because this is a tool that people become obsessive over, and it's a mind trip for most people (especially women). Here are my recommendations on when to use the scale and when to use the scale and how. When using the scale, setting a goal weight loss for 10% of your body weight (when severely over weight) can be a great place to start. For example, if client X weighs 300 lb, we would set their first weight loss goal to be 30 lbs (300 x 10% = 30). To achieve healthy and sustainable weight loss, this 30 lbs goal should be spread out over the course of a few months. In the beginning weight will typically fall of quickly, but weight loss of 1-2 lbs per week is healthy and sustainable.
How often should you weight yourself? It can be tempting to jump on the scale everyday. Did I lose a pound yesterday? I ate veggies all day, I should weigh less today. Listen to me - do not weigh yourself everyday. Your weight fluctuates day-to-day depending on how you ate the day before (too much salt?), if you exercises (muscles will be swollen and holding water), and if you have used the bathroom (yes, waste carries some weight!). Weight yourself no more than once a week, in the morning and before working out. Keeping all the variables the same will help you see if you've truly lost weight that week. What about as you hit your goal weight or find you've reached a point where you feel healthy and able to live an active life? The scale becomes less of an important tool. At this point you may want to focus more on your body composition (% of body fat and muscle mass). There are now scales on the market that can measure your body fat percentage. If building muscle mass is your ultimate goal, this is a great way to monitor your loss of fat and gain of muscle. Whatever your goal, make sure you are using the right tools to monitor your progress. Remember that one of your best tools in yourself! Listen to your body and take cues from it when it comes to your progress. Bathrooms habits, sleep quality, mood, and ease of movement are all great ways to monitor your improving health. Don't forget to schedule a yearly physical to check items you can't see with your eyes at home. Making your own bone broth is so simple and it can save you money because you use the entire chicken. So first thing's first - you need a whole roasted chicken. Or just chicken bones...but I have never had luck just finding chicken bones. So roast yourself a chicken or pick up a rotisserie chicken from the store. Stick with a basic chicken - no fancy flavors.
Once you have your whole chicken, remove all the good meat. Use this for salads, soups, or other recipes the week you make your broth. Now you should be left with your chicken bones. If a little meat is left on that's completely fine. This will give your broth even more flavor. You will also use vegetables in your broth. You can easily use what you have in the fridge that's fresh, or you can start freezing vegetable scraps as you cook and pull them out for your broth making. For this recipe I'll list what I use when I'm grabbing straight from the fridge. And lastly, you will need something acidic to help pull the the minerals out of the bones as it cooks. Typically you will find people use apple cider vinegar, but I hate vinegar. The smell makes my stomach turn. So I use lemon juice in it's place. It does the same thing so they can be interchanged. Now for the recipe. Ingredients: bones from rotisserie chicken 3 large carrots, cut into large pieces 2 large stalks of celery, cut into large pieces 1 onion, quartered 1 Tbsp chopped garlic 1 Tbsp lemon juice 1 tsp dried thyme 2 bay leaves 1 tsp pink Himalayan salt 1 tsp black pepper filtered water Place all ingredients into a 6 qt Instant Pot, adding the water last. When you add the water, stop when you reach the fill-line on the inside of your pot's bowl. Place the lid on top and move the valve to closed. Set the pressure cooker for 160 minutes (or 2 hours 20 minutes) using the manual setting. After cooking, release the pressure. Strain the broth through a fine mesh strainer. Skim the fat off the top of the broth while hot (it will look like a layer of oil) or wait until it cools and hardens on top to remove. Store in the fridge or freeze for longer. |