Ballet Beautiful: Transform Your Body and Gain the Strength, Grace and Focus of a Ballet Dancer (38 page)

1.
An entrée-size salad with romaine lettuce, tomatoes, avocado, and canned tuna in olive oil

2.
Roast chicken with a fresh green salad with mushrooms and avocado and steamed broccoli

3.
Baked or Grilled salmon with steamed or sautéed greens, sweet potatoes, and a side salad

4.
Roasted vegetables with baked flounder in olive oil lemon sauce and a fresh tomato-avocado salad

5.
Whole-grain pasta with fresh tomato and broccoli rabe, with a large green salad on the side

6.
Grilled London broil with grilled onion, squash, and zucchini slices and steamed asparagus

7.
Vegetable soup with steamed broccoli and quinoa avocado salad

Seven Desserts

1.
Two to three ounces of a high-quality dark chocolate bar

2.
A bowl of fresh berries or fruit, topped with yogurt

3.
An almond milk and fresh berry smoothie

4.
Baked cinnamon apples with walnuts

5.
A few bites of a favorite cheese with red wine

6.
Two to three graham crackers with skim or almond milk

7.
A few Mi-Del Ginger Snaps with hot herbal tea

The sample meals above are the perfect accompaniment to your Ballet Beautiful program, no matter what your fitness level at this time. Now I’ll give you a few ideas on how to put your work from
Part II
together with your healthy new lifestyle to maximize your Ballet Beautiful body!

These combinations are organized into three categories: an ideal week (workouts on five to six days), a moderate week (three to four workouts), and a light week (one
to three workouts). We all are busy, so from week to week many of us shift from ideal to moderate to light, then back again. Remember that even on days when you cannot work out you can stick with your Ballet Beautiful lifestyle by simply eating healthy and sticking to the food lists in
Chapter 8
. Use your Ballet Beautiful principles to guide and ground you. Then, when you have more time to work out, you can maximize your results!

We don’t live in an ideal world, but you can work to make time in your life for an ideal week with Ballet Beautiful! The results from these workouts, done two to three weeks in a row, will be more than worth every minute of your time.

Five days
:
15- to 30-Minute Ballet Beautiful Workout: Even if you barely have time for working out, I recommend doing a little every day to stay connected to your Ballet Beautiful body and help you keep your focus too. Doing a short, 15-Minute Blast four to five days a week is a great way to approach the program when you are really tight on time. Or if you can only squeeze in two days of workouts, try for two 15-Minute Blasts; even this will remind your body how to keep its tone and strength. And if you can manage to work out 30 minutes a day, even better!

Now that we have the workouts down, let’s talk about how to make it happen in your Ballet Beautiful kitchen!

When I prepare food for myself, I always try to keep it as simple, fresh, and fast as possible! I am not a chef and have no professional training in the kitchen. I do love great food and enjoy rewarding my body with fresh, healthy meals—especially after a hard workout! I have two different strategies for cooking that help me balance my busy schedule with fun, nutritious, stress-free meals:

1.
“Flash cooking” for weeknights
: Flash-cooked meals are quick and easy to prepare using a combination of healthy prepared foods and fresh local fruits and veggies.

2.
Health-conscious homemade meals
: When I have more time, I make fresh, delicious, health-conscious meals from scratch.

I am an expert at flash-cooking, and I encourage all of my clients to learn this easy cooking strategy! Flash-cooking lets me save calories and money by eating at home without spending hours in the kitchen. I work within my eating principles and use healthy prepared foods, like an organic roast chicken or fresh whole-wheat ravioli, and combine them with fresh vegetables that I can prepare quickly, like a green salad or steamed spinach. Here are some of my favorite go-to flash recipes for dinner and lunch.

Slice and Serve a Precooked Organic Roast Chicken with Green Salad

You can make green salad with whatever is in the kitchen: tomatoes, baby carrots, celery, and sunflower seeds for crunch. A side of fresh apple or pear slices and sharp cheddar cheese completes this speedy, healthy meal.

Green Salad

SERVES TWO TO FOUR

Enough lettuce greens to serve two to four people

½cup chopped tomatoes or a handful of grape tomatoes, washed

2 stalks of celery, diced

6 baby carrots, diced

1 tablespoon roasted sunflower seeds, no salt

Olive oil

Sea salt

Freshly ground pepper

1 fresh lemon

2 apples, sliced or 2 pears, sliced

Sharp cheddar cheese, for garnish

1.
Mix the salad ingredients in a large bowl. Toss with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Squeeze the juice of the lemon over the salad. Toss again and serve.

2.
Slice the roast chicken into quarters and present on a plate. Serve with apple or pear slices and sharp cheddar cheese.

Note
: If I choose to eat the skin on the chicken, I won’t eat the cheese, and vice versa.

Serve Whole-Wheat Ravioli with Sauteed Spinach

SERVES FOUR

1 package of fresh Bertolini whole-wheat ravioli (or your own favorite brand—Whole Foods has a great version!)

1 jar of fresh tomato sauce from your local grocer or market (Remember to read the label and avoid a product with added sugar and high sodium!)

parmesan cheese, for garnish

2 packages of organic frozen spinach or 1 box of organic baby spinach

1 head of garlic (
Note
: If you are really pressed for time, buy pre-peeled garlic. It doesn’t taste as good, but it does the trick and saves a ton of time!!)

1.
Boil and drain the pasta. Cover with the jarred sauce. Top with parmesan cheese and serve.

2.
Sauté the head of garlic in olive oil over medium heat until golden brown. Add the spinach and cook until warm and tender. Add freshly ground pepper flakes.

Make Salad Your Entrée!

Quick, healthy, and delicious—an entrée salad is the perfect flash meal! You get all of your veggies, vitamins, and antioxidants plus lean protein in one bowl. An entree salad is one of my favs when I am short on time. It’s great for your figure too! If you keep your fridge stocked from the Ballet Beautiful shopping list, you’ll always have ingredients on hand for quick and easy entrée salads. These recipes will get you started; if you want to get creative, you can always start with a base of greens and add veggies, lean protein like chicken or fish, and a simple dressing of vinegar and oil (three parts oil to one part vinegar).