Bacon Potato Breakfast Tacos

If you’re looking for a cozy, hearty breakfast this morning, look no further. Our cheesy bacon potato breakfast tacos are a home run in the comfort food department. Jazz them up with chopped cilantro and hot sauce! Using a leftover baked potato makes this a quick dish to whip up.

Bacon Potato Breakfast Tacos

Ingredients

• 1 medium (215 grams) russet potato, diced
• 3 slices (80 grams) reduced-sodium bacon
• 2 teaspoons vegetable oil, divided
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 4 (6-inch or 25 grams each) corn tortillas (certified gluten-free if necessary)
• 4 large (200 grams) eggs
• 4 large (130 grams) egg whites
• 1 small (90 grams) tomato, seeded and chopped
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
• 1/4 cup (1 ounce or 30 grams) grated reduced-fat Cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup (130 grams) prepared tomato salsa

Directions

Bring 6–8 cups water to boil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add potatoes; return to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes or until tender but not falling apart. Drain well.

Cook bacon in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until crisp. Place on paper towels, break into pieces and set aside.

Heat 1 teaspoon oil in a nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add potatoes and cumin. Cook, stirring often, for 10–15 minutes or until golden brown. Transfer to a plate; set aside.

Wrap tortillas in a damp paper towel, and microwave on high for 1 minute or until hot. Keep covered until ready to serve.

In a medium bowl, lightly beat the eggs and egg whites together.

In the same skillet, heat remaining 1 teaspoon oil. When hot, add eggs. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 2–3 minutes, or until barely set. Stir potato and bacon into eggs; cook 1 minute or until hot.

Place tortillas on a work surface. Divide egg mixture among tortillas. Top each evenly with tomatoes, cilantro and 1 tablespoon cheese. Serve with salsa on the side.

Nutrition Information

Serves: 4 |  Serving Size: 1 filled tortilla + 1 tablespoon cheese + 2 tablespoons salsa

Per serving: Calories: 280; Total Fat: 13g; Saturated Fat: 4g; Monounsaturated Fat: 2g; Cholesterol: 193mg; Sodium: 432mg; Carbohydrate: 18g; Dietary Fiber: 3g; Sugar: 3g; Protein: 22g

Nutrition Bonus: Potassium: 319mg; Iron: 10%; Vitamin A: 13%; Vitamin C: 13%; Calcium: 19% 

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5 Energizing Stretches That Will Wake You Up And Improve Flexibility

After spending the night lying down and logging your beauty rest, there’s no better way to wake your body up than that biiiiig stretch while you’re lying in bed. You don’t have to stop there, though—taking a few minutes to move through some other strategic poses in the morning can give you a boost of energy first thing (without the mid-morning coffee crash).

“Stretching creates mobility in the joints and causes the muscles to expand and contract more than they’re used to, which forces more blood to flow through the body,” says Patrick Mason, a yoga instructor at TruFusion. “More movement happening in the body relates to more liveliness in the mind!”

Try five of his favorite stretches for getting energized—do them in a sequence, or just pick the one that feels best for you when you’re short on time.

1. Cat/Cow

• Begin on your hands and knees and bring yourself to table pose, with your hips directly over your knees and your shoulders, elbows, and wrists stacked.
• As you exhale, gently move into cat pose by rounding your spine towards the ceiling, tucking your chin toward your chest, and engaging your abs.
• On an inhale, arch your back, let your belly release and lift your head and tailbone towards the sky.
• Continue this flow, moving with your breath. Repeat eight to 10 times.

2. Standing Backbend

• Stand with feet hip width apart and place your hands on your lower back, fingers pointed down like you’re reaching into your back pockets. Pull your shoulders down and back behind you.
• Lift your chin and chest, and start to look directly overhead and then behind. Try to look further and further behind you as you exhale.
• Spend at least five breaths here, then inhale to come out.

3. Downward Facing Dog

• Come to all fours, on your hands and knees. Lift your hips and straighten your legs, keeping your hands and the balls of your feet on the ground.
• Try to push your heels toward the ground. If they touch the ground easily, move your feet back a few more inches away from your hands.
• Keep your palms flat and elbows locked (if you tend to hyperextend, then keep a small bend in the elbow).
• Keep trying to get your hips higher and your heels lower, and feel the back body open up.
• Hold anywhere from 30 seconds to two minutes, and repeat two to three times. (Mason suggests going into child’s pose for a few breaths in between.)

4. Crescent Lunge

• Stand with feet together, hands at the sides of the hips.
• Leaning slightly forward, step your right foot back three to four feet and land on the ball of your right foot, bending your left knee at a 90-degree angle. (Make sure your left knee doesn’t go beyond your left ankle.) Lift both hands straight up overhead.
• To increase the challenge, make the distance between your feet longer or throw in a slight backbend.
• Hold for 30 seconds to one minute. Step back to the starting position and repeat on the left side. Stretch each side twice.

5. Wide-Leg Forward Fold

• Stand with feet parallel, about four feet apart. Interlock all ten fingers behind your back and try to lock your elbows.
• As you exhale, hinge at the hips to bring your forehead towards the ground. Release your hands and place them by your feet, letting your shoulders and chest begin to open.
• Hold for 30 seconds to one minute, two times. Take a break if you get lightheaded.

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5 Unusual Reasons You’re Not Losing Weight

Weight loss can be tricky. We all know we need to consume fewer calories than we burn to lose weight, but sometimes—even when you’re doing all the right things—that weight loss can come to a screeching halt.

This can happen for a number of reasons, but, more often than not, it’s comes down to something that requires a serious lifestyle change to fix. Here are 5 of the most common, yet not-so-obvious reasons you’re not losing weight, plus some tried-and-true.

1. You’re Stressed “Stress is the silent killer.” This is especially true when it comes to weight loss. Stress releases cortisol (often simply referred to as “the stress hormone”)—and in today’s society, excessively high cortisol levels are incredibly common. Cortisol degrades muscle tissue and encourages the storage of body fat, and is has been linked to other health issues that are a lot more serious than a few extra pounds around your waist.

If you want to get lean, then you need to make a serious effort to lower your stress levels. (Easier said than done, I know!) Try limiting the length of your workouts to 45 minutes, surrounding yourself with positive people, meditating, and getting plenty of sleep.

2. You’re Not Getting Enough Sleep Not only does enough sleep reduce levels of cortisol, but it also produces growth hormone (GH). GH pretty much has the opposite effect of cortisol on the body—it encourages fat loss, supports your immune system, and helps to keep your organs functioning properly.

Sleep also balances the hormones that control hunger. If you’ve ever gone to bed hungry and woken up not hungry, this is why. On the flip side, if you miss a night’s sleep you are likely to eat more calories the next day. While it varies from person to person, most of us should aim to get 7 to 9 hours of sleep each night.

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3. You’re Not Drinking Enough Water You’re probably sick and tired of hearing about how important water is to your health, but most people still don’t drink enough of it.

There’s a whole host of benefits to drinking enough water, one of which is proper kidney function. Dehydration impairs your kidneys, and when your kidneys aren’t working properly, your liver has to pick up the slack. Your liver is responsible for the metabolism of fat, which means fat cannot be metabolized as efficiently when your liver has to work twice as hard to remove toxins.

The solution is simple: when you’re thirsty, drink water. In particular, ensure that you are hydrated around workouts.

4. You Have Poor Digestion The gut is incredibly complicated, and scientists are only scratching the surface when it comes to understanding how the natural micro-biome of gut bacteria works. But one thing is clear: whether you want to improve your ability to lose fat, boost your immune system, clear up your skin, or even just feel better on daily basis, it all starts with gut health.

Unfortunately, most people don’t usually realize their gut isn’t functioning properly until it’s too late. But there are steps you can take to help prevent any malfunctions: reduce stress, eat fewer meals or even consider periods of fasting to give your digestive system a break, minimize the consumption of legumes, grains, sugar and pastured dairy, and chew your food until it’s mush before swallowing.

5. You’re Not Eating Enough Fiber Fiber aids digestive health and helps to create a sense of fullness, which makes consuming fewer calories easier.

It’s estimated that only 5% of Americans get enough fiber. Why are people missing out? Most of us assume we’re getting enough from grain-based products like bread and cereal, but the reality is these highly-processed foods have been stripped of their nutrients and fiber. Instead, eat more fruit and vegetables, and opt for whole grains, like brown rice and steal-cut oatmeal.

Could one of these issues be to blame for your weight loss plateau? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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MORE TO HELP YOUR #RESOLUTIONRESET

What Causes a Weight Loss Plateau
5 Ways We Sabotage Our Health Goals
8 Things to Do When You’ve Lost Motivation

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Is MSG Safe?

Even before the clean eating movement took hold, the flavor enhancer monosodium glutamate (aka MSG) was widely seen as a dietary villain, accused of causing everything from headaches and skin flushing to diabetes and obesity. But does MSG really deserve its bad reputation?

A study looking into the notorious Chinese restaurant syndrome failed to find any link between MSG and the symptoms it was believed to cause. Even those who were convinced that they were sensitive to MSG were no more likely to have a headache after ingesting MSG than they were after taking a placebo. That’s not to say that the headaches these folks experience aren’t real, just that MSG may not be the culprit. Other fears about MSG don’t hold up well under scrutiny.

Despite its chemistry lab moniker, MSG is actually nothing more than an amino acid (glutamate) plus sodium. Glutamate occurs naturally in foods like cheese, grape juice, mushrooms, soy sauce, tomato sauce and nutritional yeast. In fact, it’s the glutamate that gives these foods their special “umami” or savory quality.

Glutamate heightens our perception of other flavors stimulating special receptors on our tongues. Long before MSG was a food additive, chefs took advantage of the flavor-enhancing properties of glutamate-rich foods to boost the taste of their dishes.

Maybe one of the reasons that MSG has a bad reputation is that it’s often used in foods that aren’t terribly nutritious — like highly processed snack foods. But MSG can also be used to make healthy foods more appealing to people with a diminished or altered sense of taste or smell, such as senior citizens and cancer patients. Food manufacturers are also experimenting with glutamate and MSG as a way to reduce the sodium in foods like soups and salad dressings without sacrificing flavor.

What’s more, a study published earlier this year in the British Journal of Nutrition found that MSG may even act as an appetite suppressant! When overweight women began their meal with a bowl of soup containing MSG, they ate fewer calories during the rest of the meal than women who had the same soup minus the MSG. In particular, they seemed less interested in high-fat foods like potato chips.

Although it may or may not fit into your definition of “clean eating,” all available evidence shows that for MSG is generally safe and may even have some beneficial applications. The same cannot necessarily be said of every food containing MSG, however! Even if MSG is not the demon it’s sometimes made out to be, you’re still well-advised to limit your intake of highly processed snacks and fast food.

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Your All-In-One Guide to Storing Fresh Produce

Getting adequate fruits and vegetables is crucial to our health and well-being, but it may be easier said than done. Case and point: The Center for Disease Control and Prevention recently released a report showing that only 1 in 10 Americans eating enough fruits and vegetables. This in spite that they are universally promoted as healthy and consistently shown to reduce our risk for chronic illness. For some of us the challenge is taste and familiarity, but for countless others, fresh produce is hard to afford.

Food Deserts – Did you know?

Loosely defined, “food desert” is an area where people have less access to affordable nutritious foods like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, low fat dairy, etc. Nearly 30 million Americans currently live in a space meeting this definition. Why does this matter? Research confirms what we intuitively know: living close to multiple grocery stores is linked to higher intake of produce. Our environment shapes our food choices, and our food choices shape our health.

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Naked Juice’s #DrinkGoodDoGood

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Take a fruit or veggie selfie using #DrinkGoodDoGood, and for everyone Naked Juice will donate an incremental 10 pounds of produce to neighbors in need. Click here to learn more.

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Make the Most Out of Produce

The struggle to afford fresh fruits and vegetables is real, but knowledge is power. Knowing the proper way to store produce at home will not only preserve freshness, flavor and nutrients, but also save you money, too!

You’ve probably realized that certain fruits and vegetables fare better on the countertop, while others last longer and taste better coming out of the refrigerator. What you may not know is why. As it turns out, colder is not always better when it comes to food storage. Cold refrigerator temperatures, which usually range from 38° to 42°F (3.3° to 5.6°C), can actually damage some types of produce, and/or prevent them from fully ripening. If you want to see for yourself, put a banana in the refrigerator and see what happens.

To help you get the most out of your fresh produce, we’ve created a comprehensive guide to storing fruits and veggies. Feel free to “pin it” to Pinterest, or print a copy to keep on the refrigerator at home.  

Countertop

Fruits and vegetables suitable for storage on the countertop or in your pantry typically keep for anywhere from 3-7 days, until fully ripe. Storing produce in a bowl, paper bag or plastic bag with small holes can speed ripening. Whatever you do, don’t keep produce in sealed plastic bags on the countertop. The trapped carbon dioxide and moisture paired with a lack of oxygen increases the likelihood of unpleasant odors and decay. 

Refrigerator & Cool Storage

While most countertop-friendly produce is perfectly okay to leave out, fruits and veggies in the fridge have very different needs. Some prefer to be exposed to the air, others in airtight plastic bags or containers, and certain veggies, like mushrooms, like a mix of the two. Just like your children are picky about vegetables, some vegetables can be picky about temperature, preferring a cool 50-60°F basement over a much colder refrigerator. The guide below outlines all of this for you.

 

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Are Meal Replacements Good for Weight Loss?

Quick, effortless and portable, meal replacements are convenient when you can’t be bothered to cook. But, that’s not the only reason why they dominate grocery store shelves. Precise quantity and nutrition partnered with a guided eating plan make meal replacements appealing for those looking to lose weight. Do they work? Let’s take a look.

Could you forgo meals and live on a solely liquid-and-bar diet?

Soylent thinks you can. As one of the latest meal replacements to hit the market, Soylent touts its products as being “engineered to provide all the protein, carbohydrates, lipids, and micronutrients that a body needs to thrive.” Each Soylent drink provides 400 calories, 20 grams of protein and 20% of daily essential micronutrients (based on a 2,000-calorie diet) — you could theoretically drink five bottles and be set for the day.

Although not intended for weight loss, there are some who look toward Soylent to lose weight and have found success. That said, it is important to note that if you’re able to create a calorie deficit, you will lose weight regardless of the meal replacement program followed.

Back to Basics: What are meal replacements?

Meal replacements, often in the form of shakes and bars, are typically made with controlled amounts of calories and nutrients. With different purposes and target markets in mind, all meal replacements are not made equally. For example, SlimFast presents itself as a weight-loss product to be taken as a low-calorie meal. Ensure and Boost market themselves as nutrient supplements to fortify the diets of those who have trouble eating enough. Soylent appeals to anyone who wants to think less about food but still get in all their essential nutrients without excess (namely sugar, salt and fat). Here’s how they differ nutritionally:

	SlimFast Creamy Milk Chocolate (11 fl. oz./325 mL)	Ensure Milk Chocolate (8 fl. oz./237 mL)	Soylent Drink (14 fl. oz./414 mL)
Calories	190	220	400
Total Fat	6 g	6 g	21 g
Carbohydrates	25 g	33 g	37 g
Protein	10 g	9 g	20 g
Fiber	5 g	1 g	3 g
Sugar	18 g	15 g	9 g

SlimFast is made high in fiber and protein for prolonged satiation. Ensure and Soylent are made to be nourishing and, thus, contain a higher calorie count and more micronutrients.

So, can meal replacements help you lose weight?

Based on a 2003 systematic review pooling data from six randomized controlled trials, the answer is a cautious yes, with major caveats. In those trials, 487 people were randomly assigned to either a partial meal replacement diet or a traditional reduced-calorie diet. Both groups lost weight after three months. At a one-year follow-up, 74% of those following diets partially supplemented with meal replacements and 33% of those following reduced-calorie diets had lost 5% or more of their initial body weight. However, the two groups ate a broad calorie range — between 800 and 1,600 calories a day — and the authors were affiliated with meal replacement companies. Hence, these results should be viewed with caution.

The Verdict

Plain and simple, relying on meal replacements misses the mark on so many levels. Meal replacements are temporary and bound to be tiresome over time; it is difficult to maintain weight loss with such a strict lifestyle. Instead, cultivate long-term healthy behaviors for a more sustainable method of weight loss.

Additionally, there is so much more to learn about nutrition, especially regarding the roles of phytonutrients and antioxidants found in food — it’s impossible to find all the nutrients our body craves in lab-formulated meal replacements. At best, they deprive us of the basic gratification of eating; at worst, they rob us of the social connection we have with others through food (Think: birthday parties and weddings).

While you may see weight-loss results, a diet solely relying on meal replacements is not the best strategy for long-term weight loss and maintenance.

Have you tried meal replacements? If so, share your thoughts below.

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3 Easy Tricks to Burn More Calories All Day Long

The formula for losing weight is simple: Burn more calories than you consume. Achieving this, however, isn’t simple at all.

Steady cardio workouts like running and biking burn calories during your workout, but they don’t do much to boost your metabolism throughout the rest of the day.

Luckily, there’s a solution. Here are three ways to burn more calories in and out of the gym for faster fat loss:

1. Amp Up the Intensity

Rather than increasing the duration of your workouts (e.g., running further or working out longer), increase the intensity of your workouts so that your body burns calories even after your workout has ended.

Short, intense workouts are known as metabolic conditioning. The goal is to do lots of work in a short time so your body is forced to expend more calories than usual over the next couple of hours to help you recover.

When you perform high-intensity exercise, you don’t consume much oxygen. Your body can’t deliver enough oxygen to muscles to keep up with demand, so you go into what’s called oxygen debt. This debt is repaid with excess post-exercise oxygen consumption, which is the extra oxygen you consume after you stop exercising in order to replenish oxygen and make up for the hard work you did.

Rather than jogging for 30 minutes at a steady pace, try alternating between 10 seconds of sprinting and 30 seconds of jogging for 10–20 minutes. Even better, try this workout on a stationary bike:

• Warm up at an easy pace (2 out of 10 on the perceived exertion scale) for 60 seconds
• Sprint as hard as you can (10 out of 10 perceived exertion) for 15 seconds
• Pedal at a moderate pace (4 out of 10 perceived exertion) for 45 seconds
• Repeat for 10 minutes
• Cool down at an easy pace (2 out of 10 perceived exertion) for 60 seconds

2. Eat More Protein

Most of my fat-loss clients don’t eat enough protein. Increasing protein to a baseline of at least 1 gram per pound of body weight almost always jump-starts the fat-loss process.

Protein is important because it’s the building block of muscle — and more muscle means you’ll burn more calories at rest. Second, protein has a high thermic effect of food, meaning you burn a lot of calories when you digest protein. Think about it: Your digestive system works much harder to break down a 6-ounce chicken breast than it does a cup of rice, expending more calories in the process.

Try this: At each meal (three to four times per day total), aim to eat a palm-size piece of protein — chicken, fish, eggs, tofu, you can’t go wrong. You’ll build muscle, stay fuller longer and boost your metabolism for quicker weight loss.

3. Lift More Weights

As mentioned, muscle tissue burns more calories at rest than fat tissue. When you lift weights, you’re building muscle to stoke your fat-burning furnace.

Lifting weights doesn’t cost many calories during your workout, but it pays off by increasing your resting metabolic rate, which is the minimum number of calories required to keep your body running during day-to-day activity.

You don’t have to be a bodybuilder to see the benefits of lifting weights. Start with three full-body lifting sessions per week, focusing on exercises that work multiple muscles at once. Squats, deadlifts, walking lunges, push-ups and rows are great choices to build muscle from head to toe.
Don’t forget to consume enough protein after you lift weights. Eat a meal with at least a palm-size portion of protein, or grab a protein shake (whey protein is best, but rice or pea protein work well if you’re looking for a dairy-free option) with 20–30 grams of protein.

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