Healthy Thursday

☀ TIU's HAPPY Spring Salad☀

• 1-2 cups of Salad Greens - romaine, spinach or arugula 
• 1/2 cucumber, sliced 
• 1/2 cup of cherry tomatoes, halved 
• 1/2 red pepper, sliced 
• 1/2 cup of shredded carrots 
• 1 radish, sliced 
• 1 Tbs of your favorite herbs; fresh of course ~ parsley, dill, cilantro or basil! 
• ***I didn't have red pepper but I added 1/4 an avocado. I also added a few cubes grilled chicken.

☀ TIU's Golden Sun Dressing☀

•  1/2 cup of fresh lemon juice 
•  1/2 Tbs of fresh minced garlic 
• 1 Tbs Virgin Olive Oil 
• Drizzle of honey - about 2 teaspoons 
• Sea Salt to taste  
• *** I skipped the garlic and salt and added apple cider vinegar

The dressing was SO good. I seriously don't know if I'll ever buy dressing again. It was so light and fresh and yummy! :)

Here's a sample menu I'd like to try

Bump Up Your Burn 

Your muscles can use only 30 grams of protein at any time, a study in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association notes. Any more than that gets stored as fat. Aim for a minimum of 46 g of protein per day. A sample menu:

Breakfast: 6 ounces lowfat yogurt with 1/2 cup berries and a medium skim latte (23 g)
Lunch: Spinach salad with 2 oz chicken and 1/3 cup black beans, served with pita with 2 tbsp hummus (30 g)
Dinner: Asian stir-fry with 1/3 cup each tofu, snow peas, red bell peppers, bok choy, bean sprouts and 3/4 cup brown rice, sprinkled with 2 tbsp slivered almonds (23 g)