Celebrating Cinco De Mayo. Healthy workout, recipes, and menu choices.
Happy Cinco de Mayo! Holidays dont have to derail your health and fitness goals. It’s all about balance, remember the 80/20 Rule? You can indulge in your favorite festive foods as long as they fit into the bigger picture of your healthy lifestyle. For those of you wanting to celebrate today’s Mexican holiday, may I suggest getting your sweat on with this festive “5 by 5” do anywhere 7 minute Crossfit inspired routine and then whipping up a batch of the below healthy-fied margaritas for you and your friends? Talk about balance! Read on for my Cinco De Mayo workout, recipes, and tips on healthy eating at your favorite Mexican Restaurant.
Have A Fitness Fiesta! Get your sweat on with this quick, effective 7 minute workout routine. This travel-friendly, CrossFit inspired workout will blast fat and sculpt muscle in minutes. It’s an uberpopular fitness program that runs you through a series of functional exercises at an intense pace. Translation: You build muscle and torch megacalories in under 7 minutes. This versatile workout requires no equipment and only a few feet of space, so your makeshift gym can be a hotel room, a park, or even the beach. The moves target every inch of your body—glutes, quads, hamstrings, hips, inner thighs, arms, abs, and back —to build lean muscle and boost your metabolism, while also improving your core strength and cardiovascular fitness. The exercise routine is composed of FIVE rounds of FIVE exercises: 5 Air squats, 5 Burpees, 5 Jump Squats, 5 Pushups, and 5 Situps done 5 times. Feel free to repeat the video 2-3 times for a longer sweat session and more of a challenge. And as always please check with your health care provider before starting any new exercise program. I hope you enjoy the workout – l know it will help you on your way to getting a strong, lean, powerful body!
Eating Out at a Mexican Restaurant. Here are a few favorite healthy options on Cinco De Mayo:
- Ceviche!
- Fajitas with no sour cream. Load up on chicken with peppers, onions, guacamole, black beans & salsa. All of these are so good for you! (you can add brown rice tortillas too)
- Salmon Salad with Salsa
- Shrimp Salad with Salsa
- Chicken with rice & black beans
- Margaritas— Ask for ‘on the rocks, light on the sour mix, & extra limes to squeeze’ Or make your own (read below for my recipe!)
Try to avoid or have in MODERATION 🙂
- Chips- lots of saturated fat that goes straight to your tummy!
- Sour cream… same as chips. Sour cream doesn’t look so good in your summer swimsuit.
- Heavy cheese dishes! Greasy and guaranteed to weigh you down… so eat your cheese in moderation.
- Really sugary Margaritas. Ask them to stay light on the sour mix and ask for extra limes 🙂
So for all you margarita lovers out there (myself included!) I’m sharing my healthy version of the margarita for your Cinco De Mayo festivities. The typical margarita can run you as many as 500 calories (eep!) but not with my coconut margarita recipe…a delightful tasting and healthy version of the original. This updated cocktail has the added benefits of ZICO coconut water – which is loaded with electrolytes, vitamin C and potassium.
So pour a little tequilla on the rocks, add in some coconut water, squeeze lots of fresh lime, a little sea salt around the glass rim and you have a healthy cocktail to help you celebrate the holiday with friends and family. Relax, eat healthy, enjoy!
Caroline’s Healthy Coconut Margarita Recipe
Ingredients:
2-3 oz. Tequila
6 oz. Coconut water ( I like ZICO or fresh from the coconut)
1 organic lime
Dash of Himalayan sea salt
handful of ice
Put ice in glass, add tequilla and coconut water. Splash of lime and salt and wa-la! You have yourself a healthy cocktail. Most margaritas have over 600 calories. This ZICO coconut cocktail is under 100 calories…you’re welcome!
How are you having a healthy Cinco de Mayo? Tell me your fiesta plans!
Caroline
Other Things To Check Out This Week:
- HOT TOPIC. The evolution of Soul Cycle. Trendy or here to last?
- Trick or Treat? The Importance of FAT in your Diet.
- How to Prevent Back Pain from a Desk Job.
- Exercise Key to Good Health as we Age: “Exercise is a significant ingredient in our effort to maintain good health. As we age we give up many of the activities we enjoyed that were also good for us. Frequently we give up because of a growing fear of falling. Once we have taken a spill, we dread a repeat performance and we become overly cautious. Balance is the key; it erodes slowly as we age. And as we try to protect ourselves, we engage in fewer physical activities.”