Link to foods under a dollar from the American Heart Association.
I am on day four of a 90 day fitness “challenge”  in part because I am always looking for new motivation to stick with healthy eating habits and exercise… because after all… it is about permanently changing your lifestyle… but even when we make a decision to live a healthy life we need motivation…

I think of it kind of like keeping my house clean… it is much easier to hang my jacket on the back of the dining room chair than to open the hall closet and pull a hanger out to put it away….who am I kidding? It is not that much easier… and in the long run I would spend a lot less time cleaning up after mysel…f if I would put things back where they belong… this is a personality trait in me that I constantly struggle with.. kind of like my eating habits when it comes to sugar…

I am a sugar addict.. if I stay away from it I am good… If I eat 2 peppermint hershey kisses I want 10… knowing this about myself helps me to win most of those food battles…

When I lose the healthy-eating “food battle”.. I have to remind myself that there is still a “fitness war” going on and that one battle in the grand scheme of my life is not THAT big of a deal… but string together a bunch of losing battles and then we start to lose the war…

For instance, If I have a “cheat” day… then the next day I need to rally…  sometimes I do.. but sometimes I find it hard to get back on the healthy eating “band wagon” it is so much easier to eat junk…. no it isn’t… who am I kidding?  When we make a concerted effort to change our bad habits.. we develop new habits…good habits…

Am I ever going to get home from work at 12:15am and hang my clothes up properly in my closet.. and put my shoes away neatly instead of kicking them off as soon as I walk in the door to put my favorite house slippers on?  Hmmmmmmm… let me get back to you on that one…

But am I committed to finding ways to keep my healthy eating habits and fitness regimen in tact and improve upon that?  Yes I am. 

I have lost 13% body fat since I started strength training a little more than a year ago… it is not about the scales.. it is about how you feel and being able to enjoy life to it’s fullest…feeling good about yourself…

I read an article about 6 months ago in one of my fitness magazines that said fitness results are 80% diet related… 80%... that made me feel like I wouldn’t have to work out as hard as I do from time to time… if I was better about what I eat.. and how often (6 small meals throughout the day to stoke metabolism instead of 3 big ones)...

I have the most success on eating healthy when I don’t feel deprived of certain treats—these are just some of the simple recipes that help to keep my “junkfood gene” satisfied:

Kale Chips - They don’t look all that great, but I love the taste and they get kind of crispy so it feels like you are eating potato chips
*Preheat oven to 350, spray cookie sheet with olive oil cooking spray, place kale in single layer on the cookie sheet, spray kale with cooking spray, sprinkle with sea salt, bake for 10-12 minutes. 

Sweet Potato Chips - These can be a bit tricky because if you slice them too thin they get done faster and are crunchier so if you like that keep an eye on the time check them around 8 minutes and go up from there.
*Preheat oven to 450, slice a fresh sweet potato, spray cookie sheet with cooking spray, spray sweet potatoes or you can use a little olive oil, decide what flavor, sea salt, cinnamon and truvia mixture (tastes like cinnamon sugar), chipotle seasoning for more spice.

Salad croutons- I take a piece of whole wheat bread slice it into small squares, then you guessed it spray it with cooking spray and then use a bit of garlic salt and lemon pepper, I bake them in the toaster oven so I can keep an eye on them, on about 350 for about 5 minutes, they really freshen up a salad with some whole grains and aren’t hard as a rock.

Brown rice cakes are really tasty with some fresh almond butter (no cooking spray needed for this one:)

And here is a link to two clean eating recipes for Sweet Potato Brownies which are wonderful for satisfying a craving for chocolate without send me over the “sugar edge” and Cinnamon Swirl Protein Bread but make sure you store these in the refrigerator or I like to cut them up into single serving size bars, wrap them in saran wrap and put them in the freezer so they are fresh when I want one. 
[url=“http://www.eatcleandiet.com/the_kitchen_table/recipe/recipe.aspx?id=621” title=”
Link to Baked Bananas recipe.”]
Link to Baked Bananas recipe.[/url]

Do you have any healthy snack ideas that you would be willing to share?