My Journey to Wellness

I am really excited to feature yet another of our fabulous male Eat-Clean Diet guest bloggers - Mr. Andrew Bukowsky. He has a great story to share about how he turned from drab to fab even in the midst of shift work. Share his story with the men in your life who need a little change of focus. 

Andrew before and after in competition shape.

For me, it all started a little over a year ago, when I found my health and fitness levels were at their lowest in my life.  Growing up, I was extremely active, playing many different sports and exercising in the gym four or five days a week.  After graduating from high school, I began managing a restaurant full time.  With shift work and long hours, I no longer made time for sports and exercise in my routine.  Being surrounded by food that is focused only on flavor and little regard to healthy living, I quickly found myself adding on weight and becoming very self-conscious about my appearance.

At the time, I was very experienced with cooking good food, but had little understanding of how to eat clean and keep the food tasting great.  This is when I found Tosca Reno’s The Eat-Clean Diet.  I found this book made such a huge impact on my eating habits and ability to begin cooking healthy, without sacrificing enjoyment of the meals.  Some of the dishes I truly enjoyed right away were the Egg White and Turkey Scramble, Eat-Clean Chicken and Rice and for my sweet tooth, Summer Rice Pudding (reminded me of my mom’s homemade rice pudding growing up).

After beginning this journey to wellness, it inspired me to seek the assistance of a personal trainer, to further improve upon my healthy living.  I quickly went from the worst condition of my life, to ultimately my best physical health and conditioning.  This even led to me competing in Men’s Physique fitness competitions, making it all the way to Nationals in my first year of competing.  Thank you Tosca for your help in helping get me started on my journey.

Find me on my blog, Twitter, Facebook and my Facebook Page.

And don't miss my tasty recipe... Zucchini Protein Pancakes

Ingredients:
2 large zucchini
2 medium onions
5 cloves garlic, minced
2 stalks celery
1 cup Quick Oats
1 cup spelt flour (you may skip and use 2 cups of oats or oat flour)
1/3 cup Hemp Hearts (Raw Shelled Hemp Seeds from Costco or may use ground fibre powder)
1 box (500 ml) liquid egg whites
4 large Eeggs
1 Tbsp pepper
1 Tbsp prganic No-Salt Seasoning (Costco) or your favourite Mrs. Dash

Directions:
1. Shred zucchini, celery and onions.
2. Add minced garlic and the rest of the ingredients. Mix well.
3. Use 1/3 cup measure to scoop mixture and fry using olive-oil spray.
4. Serve with Greek yogurt, homemade tomato sauce or hummus. DELISH!!!

For a little variety, I have added chopped jalapenos to a separate batch for a spicy twist. I chopped 3 jalapenos with seeds and all and mixed in. A little hot but so good!

Yields: 24 pancakes

Nutritional Value per Pancake:
Calories                80        
Fat                       2.4gr
Sodium                 50mg
Carbs                    8.8gr
Fibre                     2gr
Sugar                   1.25gr
Protein                 5.7gr