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What CAN I eat? Making sense of dieting nonsense.

April 2, 2011 By 5 Comments

Eat this!!!

Don’t eat THAT!

Avoid these foods at all costs!

Eat this and you will *insert choice verb here: boost your metabolism, loose weight, tone up, have more energy, trim fat, end world hunger, grow super powers….*

You must eat 5-8 times a day!
You only need to eat within an 8 hour window!
Actually, twice a week, don’t eat at all!

Eat Clean!
Eat Paleo!
Carbs are bad!
Fat will make you fat!
Meat is evil!
Too much protein will kill your kidneys!
Stay away from gluten!
Go anti-inflammatory!
Eat for your blood type!

This video says just how ridiculous life has gotten (censor watch – I apologize for the swear word in the beginning):

The list goes on and on and on.  Are you as tired as I am of seeing these things?  I am sick and tired of being told what I can and cannot, should and should not eat.  Life is too short to have other people dictate your meals.

On the one hand, the majority of the American population has a general idea of what healthy foods are, and what are “unhealthy” foods in the sense that we know that broccoli has more health benefits for us than an Oreo cookie, and it’s much harder to “overdone” on broccoli than it is on Oreos.  On the other hand, will eating and oreo in and of itself make you fat, kill your kidneys, make you healthy, wealthy and wise?  No.  Nor will broccoli.  It’s just food.

I am not a nutritionist, but I have been up and down the nutritional scale starting with wanting to just “eat healthy” and then learning how certain foods can “affect my body”, eating 5-6 times via Tosca’s “Eat Clean” mantra, turning to figure competing and eating nothing but fish and asparagus with the stray bowl of oats of boiled chicken breast thrown in for “variety”, to binging on peanut butter in rebellion, to studying nutrition through my various certifications, to Intermittant Fasting to where I am now.  Where is that?

I am re-learning to trust my body.  I have ignored it for so long in the hopes of changing it for the better, that I have ignored it.  Your body, if you really listen will not hurt you, not lie to you, not lead you down the path of shame, deprivation or overindulgence on a daily basis.  Infants and children, even into adolescence  have no problem listening to their bodies, well, most of them.  Look at an infant: it cries when it’s hungry, it pushes away the bottle when it’s had enough.  It doesn’t care that you want it to “clean its plate” or that the milk will “go to waste”.  And do we punish the infant for trusting its body?  Good heavens, no.  So why do we do it to ourselves?  Why do we feel we need to overindulge at the buffet because otherwise it will go to waste?  Really?  Look, if the restaurant wastes food, that’s their problem NOT YOURS.  If you didn’t clean your plate, what bad things will happen?  Absolutely nothing.  You can save it for later, give it away, throw it away.

What about what to eat?  If I trust my body, won’t I just eat ice cream, chocolate and sweets all day everyday?

If you have been on one of the bandwagons named above, you might go through a rebellious stage and do that for awhile, yes.  But eventually, you lose some of the cravings for it as you become more in tune with what your body really wants.  You find out that you didn’t really want sweets, you just wanted them because they were “forbidden” and when you listen you find out that really, you just want a nice juicy steak, with a potato and some steamed broccoli.  No, really, you want it this time! :)    I speak from experience, here.

If you do not fit into that category above, you have not been “actively dieting” for the better part of half of your life, then you already know that more than likely, you won’t eat junk because you crave it, but you will probably eat it if it’s around your house because it’s THERE and it’s convenient.  That’s the point of pre-packaged food, it makes it easier to eat, so we do, which makes it easier to eat too much, which means we do.  See how this works?

Do this with me:

Notice the storm in the background, ever feel this way?

Close your eyes.  Tune in to how your body feels.  Are you hot, cold, just right?  Do you have pain anywhere?  What doo you hear around you?  Right now I hear birds chirping and some street noise.  It’s lovely.  Listen to your body, notice your stomach.  Are you hungry?  This is where it gets tricky.  A lot of people say “I don’t know” because you have ignored your hunger signals for so long, you truly don’t know.  That’s ok.  The more you do this, the easier it will be to know.  If you ARE hungry, think, what do you want?  If you could eat anything right now, what would FEEL good to you?  Smoked salmon? Steak? Eggs?  A Cadbury egg? Ice cream? Carrots?  Anything and everything is ok.  When you give yourself the freedom to want and the freedom to choose, initially you might have things come up that are really “rebellion foods”  You don’t want to eat them because you’re hungry for them, you want to eat them because you weren’t allowed to before.  After awhile of tuning in, that signal fades and you start to realize what your body wants, and what AMOUNT it wants.

I have been doing Intermittant Fasting since October.  I thought I liked it because I like to eat big.  Really, I had been on too many plans of a d5 meals ay, tiny amounts of food and the thought of eating big till I was satisfied and getting to eat big before bedtime (when that is a no-no in stupid bodybuilding circles….sigh…another topic for another day) was appealing to me.  That’s not to say that IF isn’t a good plan.  I think it really is.  However, in my current state, it wasn’t helpful.  Let me explain.  Last month I quit dieting.  I have gained a ridiculous amount of weight….and now I have stopped gaining.  What happened?

As you can see from my cycle of eating behavior, I have been letting others tell me what to eat for too long.  Couple that with a lot of nutritional knowledge and my own rules and you have a strict eat clean/count calories/binge in rebellion cycle that leads to nowhere but mental and physical anguish. I got tired of it.  Tired of the rules.  Tired of only being allowed to eat at certain times, certain foods…..enough.  I KNOW what I need to eat to get lean, I know what better choices are for me than others, I know how to eat, etc.  It’s not the knowledge that is the reason I am sitting here at 35+ pounds over weight, it’s that mentally, I had ambushed myself into a corner.  Like the video above, I felt like there was nothing safe to eat, and any amount was too much, and no matter what, eating food I began to feel guilty.  We need food to live, who wants to feel guilty about food?

I have been reading this book and it has been helping me immensely.  If you don’t know who Geneen Roth is, I HIGHLY recommend getting some of her books.  I’m also reading “Appetites”, “Feeding the Hungry Heart” (if you are a binger or want to know what it really feels like inside of a binge, you can relate to this) and will be reading “When Food is Love” and “Women, Food and God“. Don’t the titles feel good to say and do they ring true with some of you on things you were afraid to admit?  See, what I found out through all of this stuff about wanting to change my body is that while it started innocently enough, I did lose 20+ lbs, reach my goal weight on my wedding day and keep it off for over a year…the behaviors I learned set me up for some terrible cyclical behavior that far too many of us are in together.  I had started out changing my eating to eating healthier things, but along the way felt like I had to have continual guidance and that if I ate anything processed or “off plan” that I was a failure, I was holding myself back, etc.  And then I felt like certain foods would always be “off limits” which made me want them.

Friends, let me give you hope and guidance in as succinct a way as I can (which will be hard, look at the length of this post!).  Knowing what, when and how to eat is very simple.  Doing it to lose weight is also simple, and it CAN be easier than we make it.  Guidelines that your common sense probably already knows:

  • No food is off limits (unless you have a medical reason, allergies, etc.)
  • Food with less ingredients is healthier for you and should make up a majority of your diet for health and weight loss reasons
  • Pre-packaged food is ok to eat (did you hear that?) but remember how easy it is to eat lots of it, and it’s more calorically dense.  So when you eat it, do so on purpose, enjoy it, if you don’t enjoy it, don’t eat it.
  • If you don’t enjoy it, don’t eat it. No,really.  I think I should repeat this 100 times. :)
  • As much as you can, center your meals around protein first.  This will be easier for some, harder for others, but doable for everyone.  You feel better, look better, and work better with more protein in your diet.  It builds muscle, tissue, cells, practically everything in your body and and your body has to work harder to digest it.  There’s really no downside to protein and almost everyone should eat more of it.  No idea how much?  A serving size is generally 4 oz. the size of your palm.  Start there.
  • Neither carbs nor fat are bad for you- you need both.  Eat the ones you like.  Eat it with protein more often.
  • Take fish oil, preferably cod liver oil – it has the highest concentration of Omega-3′s which we are pitifully shot on here in America.
  • Eat veggies, if you like them.  There are a ton, surely there are a couple out there you like?  Brightly colored, especially green, are great for you.  You knew that though, didn’t you?

When it comes to weight loss, here are the basics:

  • eat less than you need to maintain your weight.
  • Eat less, move more, the weight comes off.  Simple as that.
  • What to eat to do that?  Stuff that is one ingredient or less has less calories.
  • Go for thing that are higher in one macronutrient than the other two.  Aka: chicken breast, boneless skinless is mostly protein, very low in fat or carbs.  Pair that with a potato (mostly starchy carbs) and green beans (fibrous carb) and add a little butter on your potato (fat) and you’re good to go.  Almost all of those foods are one-ingredient.
  • Fat is not bad, and eating fat will not make you fat.  Eating too much fat will make you fat, but eating too much of ANYTHING will make you fat.  Period.  Fat is easiest to cut back on and lose weight simply because it has more calories per gram.  That butter on your potato?  Make it a teaspoon instead of a tablespoon.  You’ve got less calories and you’re still satisfied because you ate butter. :)
  • The simpler your meals, the less ingredients, the less calories.  I hate this but it’s true.  I like to cook and make complicated dishes, but here’s the truth of it, when you do that (think casserole) a single serving gets packed with a lot of calories on all three macro levels, and usually, protein isn’t the star.  Casseroles are good, home cooked is good, multi-ingredient is good, just remember how easy it is to overdo it on calories.
  • That whole “everything in moderation” thing?  Yeah, it really works.

But what about all those rules?


Hogwash, most of them.  Most of them are simply a means to an end.  Will you lose weight on Atkins, Paleo, the Zone, etc.?  Sure.  But is it a lifestyle change you’re making or is it a plan you’re going to follow till the weight comes off and go right back to eating nothing but nachos and pizza?  All those methods basically trick you into eating less.  At some point, no matter what plan you’re on, you can’t eat any less, and you’ll be maintaining from then on.  Do you want to eat Atkins the rest of your life?  Heck no, not for me.  I will say that IF makes it VERY easy to lose weight if you are following the guidelines above (eating less calorically dense and higher protein).  It’s just tough to overeat in 8 hours if you are eating high protein, less calorically dense stuff.  You’re fuller faster and longer and you just can’t eat that much.  It’s an easy lifestyle to maintain, too.  I don’t think it’s the end-all-be-all, but it can work.  And for people who like to eat a good amount instead of tiny amounts, it works best for you.  Eating “clean” is a good one too, because it teaches people who otherwise don’t have a clue about nutrition, what are good choices.  However, the 5-6 meals a day to “boost your metabolism” is NOT TRUE ON ANY LEVEL.  Too many studies have shown it.  You get something called the Thermic Effect of Food when you eat, and yes it goes up, but not to any degree that will boost your overall metabolism.  I really wish Tosca would get the hint on that because I’m sick of hearing that nonsense.

This might spark some controversy, and I hope so because this isn’t an issue going away anytime soon, but I wanted to let you all know where I’m coming from and what I’m dealing with.  Right now, I’ve found that after a month of forbidden foods “buffets, nachos, pizza, endless sweets and ice cream” really, I just want massive amounts of protein and veggies and I’m not interested in much else anymore.  And I’m only eating when I’m hungry, and I stop when I’m satisfied.  If I eat out of emotion, I do it on purpose, knowledgefully, and move on.  Eating from emotion isn’t a bad thing, we all do it, but to live your life eating from emotion is no way to live.  I subbed food for my marriage, friendships, jobs, God, everything else, and now that I’m learning to put food back in its place, everything else is going back where it belongs; I have a better, closer relationship with my husband, I’m more focused on my job, I’m getting closer friendships, etc.

If you want to read some more on the subject without the nonsense, these are sources that I trust:

Leigh Peele (an article about food she wrote includes the video above)

Martin Berhkam and Leangains.  Want to see diet myths de-bunked in action?

Lyle McDonald – if you want to know anything about food, nutrition, lifting, etc. that is the TRUTH and is backed by research, this man can dish it out to you in a way you understand, with some humor.  Check out the articles link

Nia Shanks Blog – talks a good bit about lifting and some about food

Brad Pilon – Eat Stop Eat – the aforementioned 24 hour fasting a couple days a week, not as hard as it sounds

I’m sure there are more, but these are the people I trust off the top of my head, and I hope they help you dig through the diet nonsense out there.

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What’s a healthy snack?

July 28, 2010 By 5 Comments

Recently, a friend gave me a call asking me for help.  She’s a band director and also in graduate school and her schedule is kind of crazy. Between teaching and driving to another town for class, she doesn’t have a lot of time to eat and was at a loss as to what was a good snack to help her out.   Planning and preparation can take the desperation out what would otherwise be a fast-food run for lack of options.

When you’re trying to figure out what are some good healthy options for you, besides thinking “portable”?   Instead of thinking in terms of specific foods and getting confused, you can simplify your options by thinking in terms of macronutrients: Proteins, Carbohydrates and Fats.  Instead of thinking “well, a banana is healthy….” sure it is, but if you eat nothing but bananas you’ll get burned out quickly.  Besides that, a banana is only a carbohydrate – it doesn’t constitute a balanced meal or snack.   When picking your snack options think of things this way:

1) What protein do I want?
2) Do I want to eat a carb or a fat with that?

You do not have to subscribe to the 6-8 small meals a day philosophy.  Ignore the hype and myths, it does nothing to your metabolism.  It may help to stabilize your blood sugar levels, but mainly, the small meal approach makes it simpler to get in more nutrients and proper macro ratios (i.e. enough protein, more fruits and veggies, more Vit C) into your diet.  So, if you are going to be having 2-3 snacks a day, you obviously do not have to pick the same foods each time.   Ahhhh, variety!  In fact, this order doesn’t have to relate to just snacks, I do this for every meal I eat: center my meal around protein and then figure out what I want to go with it.


So what DO I eat??

Well, let’s look at a couple different things that are great to eat on the run.  By the way, a small lunch bag/box with an ice pack is indespensible – you will be eating REAL food this way, not processed candy junk.  So, pick a protein and then pick one carb and/or one fat and you’ve got yourself a great snack!

Pick a Protein

0% Greek Yogurt
Low-fat string cheese
Low-fat Deli meat
Turkey Jerky
Low-fat Cottage Cheese
Protein Powder
Hardboiled eggs

Pick a Carbohydrate

Bananas, berries,peaches
Plums, all fruit
Raw veggies
Sprouted Bread or wraps
Low-fat popcorn
Multi-grain crackers (no HFCS)
Hummus
Rice Cakes (low sugar)

Pick a fat

Peanuts, walnuts, almonds, pistachios
Peanut butter
Full-fat cheese (goat cheese is great with fruit and easy to digest)
Sunflower seeds, other seeds

Some of my favorites?

  • half of a turkey sandwich with lettuce, tomatoes and mustard, maybe some low-fat cheese
  • Greek yogurt parfait with fruit and almond butter or walnuts
  • Apple and Peanut butter with string cheese
  • Protein powder mixed with Greek yogurt and topped with peanut butter (or nuts)

There are also some other ready made options that aren’t too bad when looking for on-the-go snacks.  Your best bet for healthy is 1) be as natural as possible (the less processed the better – did it grow in that form?) 2) pick protein first

Some of my go-to ready-made snacks:
Ostrim ostrich jerkey

I’m sure you’ve seen these around.  As jerkey goes, these are a better choice than most.  Why?  Well, they aren’t just made with beef, they’re also made with ostrich – an extremely lean meat.  They also do not have hydrolyzed soy protein, like a lot of jerkys do.  They’re high in protein (10g) low in fat (1-2g) and low in carbs.  Carbs?  Yes, carbs.  All jerkey is not made equal.  Lots of them have added sugars and are made with soy, not meat.  When picking your protein, you’ll notice I mention low fat a lot.  It’s not that there is something wrong with the higher fat proteins, but when you are picking a protein, you want it to be primarily that: protein.  If there are a lot of added carbs and fats, it suddenly takes on a lot more calories and then you have less volume to play with.  These jerkey sticks are about 80 calories each and make a great snack on the go.  Throw some fruit in there to balance it out and you’ve got a great snack.  A word of caution:  I’m not wild about the nitrates used to preserve these, so they aren’t perfect, but good in a pinch.  I wouldn’t make these a daily nosh.  I’m pretty sure Trader Joe’s has some nitrate-free choices, so you can check those out too for options.  Another note: make sure to drink lots of water to balance out that sodium intake!

You can buy these at lots of places: Vitamin Shoppe, GNC, Smoothie King, even some gas stations.

Power Crunch Bars

These have got to be my favorite snack.  They’re a protein/fat combo and taste like cookies so they not only keep my sweet tooth satisfied, they keep my tummy satisfied and I can keep them in my purse.  Each bar has roughly the same amount of calories as a Larabar (200) and fat (12) but these have about 13-14g protein per bar and taste just like those wafer cookies you know you should stay away from (Nutter Butter anyone???).  The protein they are made with is broken down into much smaller particles so (according to BNRG) you absorb more of the protein than you might from other sources. they are also only made with whey, not soy or other proteins, which has been shown to be better absorbed.  In any case, they are TASTY!  I know you can get them from Vitamin Shoppe, Vitamin World, GNC and I’ve even seen them in CVS and will soon be in Trader Joe’s, but you can also check out their website at www.bnrg.com or order them online.  Favorite flavors are the cookies and cream and the peanut butter ones.  Chocolate and Vanilla are either too sweet or bland for me.

Lara bars

These are wonderful little snack bars that come in all kinds of flavors and it really doesn’t get more natural than this.  They combine dates with nuts and you get a bar!  Seriously.    My current favorite is the Peanut Butter and Jelly flavor.  Ingredients?  Dates, peanuts, unsweetened cherries, salt.  That’s it! 

As you can see they’ve also got a few new flavors out.  They don’t do just fruit either.  They’ve got a Jocolat line, which are chocolate flavored ones and as I surf their site, they’ve come out with cookie flavors!  I’m going to have to try these: Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip, Carrot Cake,  Chocolate Chip Brownie.  How can you go wrong?  It’s a good natural source of carbs and fat and fits easily into your purse or bag.  As I said before, you should base your meals around protein, but it’s all right to have a mostly carb/fat snack, too, as long as it’s slow digesting.  Larabars fit the bill – they’re healthy, give you lots of good vitamins and minerals and give you a serving of fruit, to boot!

Check them out at www.larabar.com

Sources of inspiration


I’ve got to give props to Clean Eating Magazine for helping me with snack ideas.  They’ve got great recipes every couple of months and each issue comes with a two week menu – each day have 2 snacks.  It’s super helpful, especially if you’re clueless and overwhelmed with where to start.

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From Nancy Georges – The Attitude of Excellence

November 28, 2009 By Leave a Comment
The First Thanksgiving, painted by Jean Leon G...

Image via Wikipedia

I got this in my email box from IFBB Pro Nancy Georges and thought it was wonderful enough to share.  Whether your goal is fitness or musical excellence or anything else, this applies.

THE ATTITUDE OF EXCELLENCE

What does it mean to be excellent? How do you define it? For me, how I define excellence, is when I am personally lined up with my own values, goals and vision as an athlete and in all areas.  When I am doing whatever I can to achieve my goals and I am not slacking off “according to me” then I know that I am being excellent.

This is challenging to do, especially around the holidays when we are around more people who have their own ideas of what is good for you.  In addition to that there is an extreme slacker mentality during the holidays.

Now I am not against relaxing. And I have to admit, it is not always easy. I get recharged pretty quick, so taking off an entire week to lounge around the house and eat, really doesn’t work for me.  But, like I said, that is just me.
The trick with the holidays is to have a plan. If you plan on gaining 10 pounds, then go for it, but don’t put on 20. If you plan on staying in contest shape, then you are not going to be able to sit around drinking wine and eating cheese doodles all week with the gang.
Decide what you are going to do this holiday season. Write it out. Are you going to actually lean out, maintain, put on a few pounds, put on a lot of pounds? How many, how much. Are you going to improve weak body parts, get those glutes to sit up higher, build a little muscle? Write our your plan for the next 6 weeks.  Once you know what you are planning on doing, then you will know what needs to be done to get there.
Being excellent, has to do with listening to your own internal monitoring system.  Even when people around you are encouraging you to eat.   Maybe they are even badgering you to eat.  Now this goes both ways, just because you have decided to be excellent, don’t expect them to remove that tray of goodies, because you can’t control yourself.  They have the right to eat whatever they choose to, but it is their choice.  Here is your Thanksgiving and December plan.
1. Decide what you are going to do this holiday, in regard to your goals.  Push yourself in a way that works for you. If you don’t have a show in December, I certainly think that a Thanksgiving feast is warranted. But you know your body, and you know your mind.  Push yourself a bit, don’t be fooled by the “it’s just one bit” decide what you are going to look like on January 1st. Write out that plan.
2. Be willing to do what it takes to achieve that. Period! That is all, it is that simple.
Being excellent is a choice, don’t worry if others aren’t coming along, but don’t stop going just because they have taken a break.
Whatever your goals, whatever your vision, whatever your dream, do what it takes to have it.  You will feel so proud of yourself, and that is the ultimate feeling of satisfaction.
Gobble Gobble, it’s turkey time.

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New Favorite Healthy Foods

October 7, 2009 By 1 Comment

Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day; and while eggs and egg whites are considered one of the most perfect bodybuilding foods, they get old for me.  Let me introduce you to some of my favorite foods, recipes and websites!

Websites:


www.mrbreakfast.com

Mr. Breakfast is THE place to go for figuring out what to eat when you have no idea what to cook.  There is a HUGE database of ideas, recipes and even reviews of breakfasts restaurants!

Some of my favorite ideas to look up:

Omlettes, scrambles, French Toast and pancakes.

Hungry Girl

If you don’t get this woman’s newsletter, you should!  She is on board the Weight Watcher’s Train, and while I don’t care about WW, I love getting healthified recipes in my inbox all the time.  The woman has even come up with an idea of how to make chocolate fudge from pumpkin!  I don’t agree with all of her swaps (she uses lots of un-natural things, like fat free items, etc. flavored with artificial flavors and colors) however, for the ocassional craving that arises but you can’t bring yourself to succumb, she offers some great swaps!

Here’s one for a Blizzard that looks yummy, great idea for PWO meal!

http://www.hungry-girl.com/chew/chewdetails.php?isid=1439

New Favorite Foods:

Like I said, I’m getting tired of having oatmeal and eggs every morning, even though I LOVE both of them, especially oatmeal.  I’ve been eating  a lot of breakfast sandwiches lately, fritattas and scrambles.  Let me introduce you to some of the ingredients I’m really digging, that help me get my protein in at breakfast without resorting to a dozen egg whites or protein powder.

Applegate Farms Natural Turkey Bacon

THIS is some fabulous stuff!  I used to go for the Jennie-O turkey bacon, until I found this wonderful stuff.  It has a deep, smokey flavor, and ZERO nitrates or fillers.  If you can pronounce all the ingredients, you know you have good stuff.  They’ve also got an organic version and lots of other products including deli meats, sausages and hotdogs.

Visit their website for ideas and recipes: www.applegatefarms.com

Chicken Sausage

This stuff comes in all flavors, brands and varieties.  I like this Al Fresco brand, but since it’s usually pretty expensive, I hit up Trader Joe’s for their store brand any time I can.  Right now I have their Sweet Apple Chicken Sausage and bell pepper sausage.  The mango sausage isn’t bad either.  Al Fresco actually has a blueberry sausage, and man, does that sound good with some french toast!

Something to watch out for though is fat and carb content.  When picking your proteins, try to keep them just protein with low amounts of the former.  While it’s ok to have higher fat content in your meats, it basically means you get less fat at other meals.  Not as much fun, because the fat adds up fast!

http://www.alfrescoallnatural.com/FlavorsIntroNew.aspx?FM=1 – check this out for their flavors and tons of recipes

Trader Joe’s Sprouted 7-Grain Bread and Great Harvest Cinnamon Raisin Bread

Alas, I have no pictures of these wonderful breads, but let me tell you, they both make WONDERFUL French Toast, for which the recipes are at the bottom of the page.
The TJ bread is amazing, with only 60 calories, 5g  protein and 7 grams of carbs per slice!  AMAZING!  And when you sprout the grains in the bread, this actually increases the nutritional value of the bread.

The Cinnamon Raisin Bread, well, maybe not so healthy, and I don’t have pictures of it either.  But, why do I like it? Besides the fact that this delicious bread seriously tastes like a donut in sliced form, they stick to a belief of having only 5 ingredients in their bread – all of which you can pronounce.  From their website: (www.greatharvest.com)

Five pure and simple ingredients are the hallmark of our legendary whole grain breads:

  1. Fresh-ground whole-wheat flour
  2. Filtered water
  3. Fresh yeast
  4. A pinch of salt
  5. Something sweet (usually a local honey).

We believe bread is best when you keep it simple. It’s even better when you use the highest quality ingredients you can find. You can taste it and your body benefits from it.

Just like fresh-ground coffee beans make a better cup of coffee, fresh-ground grains of wheat make a better tasting – and better for you – loaf of bread.

As far as preservatives go, forget about it! Great Harvest breads have never been made with preservatives or artificial additives of any kind…and they never will. Thanks to our special scratch-made process, our breads still stay fresh for up to ten days (if you can keep your hands off it that long!)

What’s not to love?

Recipes:

I have lots, but these are my favorites that I have been doing for awhile now:

French Toast – and variations:

2 slices TJ Bread (or 1-1 1/2 cinnamon raisin bread)
3-6 egg whites
vanilla, water, stevia

Mix eggs and liquids together, dip bread in mixture and fry in pan.

Variations:

STUFFED FRENCH TOAST
Slater on 1 Tablespoon of Philadelphia fat free cream cheese, peanut or almond butter (or flavored peanut butter, check out www.ilovepeanutbutter.com  ) and/or fruit, make into a sandwich, dip sandwich into mixture and fry.

High Protein French Toast:

If you want the extra protein but not so many eggs, add in some protein powder in leiu of 3 egg whites.  My favorites are Oryx Goat Whey and BSN Lean Dessert Cinnamon Roll

Fritattas

There are so many versions of this.  So pick your ingredients and here is the method for making them.

Sautee veggies (with or without oil).
Add eggs/whites.
As the eggs begin to set, lift up edges and let the runny parts run underneath.
Top with meat and/or cheese.
When it is almost set, throw the pan under the broiler for a few minutes.  Take out when it’s golden brown and bubbly on top!

Ingredients I like to use:
Extra virgin coconut oil
turkey bacon, nitrate-free deli meat
Goat cheese, goat gouda
all kinds of veggies: peppers, onions, spinach, broccoli
Extras: beans, yum! or russet potatoes

Breakfast Sandwich:

Bread of choice (current choice is Pepperidge Farms WW English Muffins)
Meat (I love smoked salmon or turkey bacon or deli meat, or even chicken sausage)
eggs/whites
Salsa (optional)

Easy to figure this out: cook all, make a sandwich

Oatmeal Protein Cookies

3 egg whites
30-40g old fashioned oatme

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Protein Bar recipes

September 7, 2009 By 2 Comments

Lots of people eat protein bars.  While they’re ok as an ocassional thing, you are far better off making your own!  Here are a few recipes that I’ve gathered to help you out.

Another really great website that I love to visit for various dieting concoction recipes is:

http://eatoxygen.blogspot.com

FUDGEY CARAMEL PROTEIN BARS

4 Tbl butter
1.5 Tbl unsweetened cocoa powder
2 Tbl DaVinci Chocolate SF syrup
2 cups Optimum Nutrition Chocolate
Whey Protein
1 cup coarsely chopped nuts

Melt butter in large bowl in microwave. Whisk cocoa in well, then SF syrup. Incorporate protein powder. Add chopped nuts Press into wax-paper-lined 9×9 pan & refrigerate. Caramel consistency, and much better than any of my old fudge recipes. Plus, no wasted calories. High Protein snack or dessert. Best cold.

FUDGEY-NUTTY BARS

2 and 1/3 cups vanilla protein powder
1 oz square unsweetened chocolate
1/2 cup butter
4 oz cream cheese
1 oz chopped almonds
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp peanut butter
1/4 cup Splenda

Melt butter, cream cheese, peanut butter and chocolate in bowl in microwave. Mix together very well and then add splenda & vanilla, mixing well again.

Add walnuts and protein powder and mix. It will be difficult and messy to mix,
you will have to use your hands near the end to knead it all together, squeezing so that the powder is incorporated into the mixture.

Now place in an 8×8 0r 9×9 baking pan,  flatten and refrigerate. When cooled and hardened, cut into 8 bars. Per bar: 21 grams protein, 3.15 carbs. This will vary according to the protein powder you use.  Optimum Nutrtion was used in this recipe and it has 22g protein and 1.5g carbs in each scoop.

8 oz fat free cream cheese
4 scoops protein powder ( i use chocolate)
3 cups whole oats
1/2 cup splenda
Dash of cinnamon ( to taste)

Combine splenda, cream cheese, protein, and cinnamon in a bowl and mix with an electric mixer on high til its smooth.

add the oats and mix with the mixer until you have a fairly homogeneous mixture.

note if it is too thick add a 1/4 cup of milk or water

spray an 8×8 pan with PAM. spread the mixture in the pan. sprinkle some additional splenda on top and place in the fridge for an hour.

I cut mine into ten bars for a breakdown of

154 cals, 17.8g carb, 15g protein, 1.8 g fat

Meal Replacement Bars

Ingredients
2 Egg Whites
1 Whole Egg
3 Packets Quaker Oats (Raw) (Maple & Brown Sugar)
6 Scoops Whey Gourmet Root Beer (Any Flavor will do)
Splenda (however much you want)
3tbs Wheat Germ
1% Milk (around 200ml)
2 BioBest Yogurt (any yogurt will do)

Steps
1. Put everything into the bowl
2. Mix it together until you cant tell anything apart
3. Pour altogether onto a baking pan
4. Heat oven to 350
5. Bake for 10-20 Minutes (I cant remember exactly how long but just start checking after 10)
6. Take the pan out of the oven
7. Cut into 5 equal pieces
8. Top with more Splenda :P
9. Enjoy

Macros Per 1 Piece
Approx. Protein 36 Carb 36.4 Fat 6 Cals 342

Macros For Entire Pan
Approx. Protein 180 Carbs 182 Fat 30 Cals 1710

This is probably the best homemade bar for someone following a 40/40/20 Diet. I like having one half before a workout and one half after.

EDIT: The macro ratios are 42% 42% 16% If you want more fat just make all three or two of the three eggs whole

Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein Cupcakes

I just tried these and they were awesome. I’ll eat two in a meal for 15 carbs (frosting not included), 10 grams of healthy fat, and 24+ grams of protein.

Ingredients:

1 Scoop Chocolate Whey Protein
1 Large Egg White
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 Teaspoon Natural, Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
2-3 Packets Splenda
1/8 Cup Coffee
1 Tablespoon Water
Dash Cinnamon
Dash Salt
1 Tablespoon Natural Peanut Butter

Chocolate Frosting:

1 Tablespoon Sugar Free/Fat Free Pudding Powder (heaping tbsp)
1/2 Teaspoon Milk
1/4 Teaspoon Natural Cocoa Powder, Unsweetened
1 Packet Splenda

–

Mix all ingredients for the cupcakes togther besides the peanut butter, and refrigerate for 5 minutes. Melt the peanut butter in a microwve until it is runny, and mix it into the chilled cupcake mixture. Preheat oven to 450 degrees farenheit.

In a cupcake baking pan (normal-size), spray some non-stick cooking spray into two of the cups until thuroughly coated. Using a spoon, ladel mix equally into each of the two cups until they are equally filled a little bit above the healf-way point. This doesn’t need to be perfect, just make sure that there is enough room from the top so hat itwont overflow when baking.

Slide the pan and mix into the oven and bake until the mixture has risen, but is not entirely cooked. Test this by piercing one of the cupcakes with a butter knife. If it comes out with mix on it, you are good to go. At this point, reduce the heat to 300 degrees farenheit, and bake until a butterknife pierced through one cupcake comes out clean, and the tops are cooked.

Remove the tray from oven and let it stand for 1 minute, and remove the cupcakes using a small spatula, butterknife, or spoon. Top with frosting if you desire (frosting is made by combining its ingredients thuroughly, and chilling in a freezer until it ‘firms’ up a little bit).

Other tips:

-Replace chocolate whey and cocoa powder with vanilla whey and lemon-flavored sugar free/fat free pudding powder for a lemonbar variation. Remove cinnamon.
-Fill with fresh fruits or light creames for a real dessert.
-Add a tablespoon of ground oats for each cupcake you will be making to make them more filling.
-Add a hint of mint extract, coconut milk, or natural mashed pumpkin for extra delight.

Coconut Chocolat Balls:

24g Protein, 10g Carb, 9g Good Fat per ball
——————————————————————————-

1- mix in blender 1/2 cup water and 6 scoops of chocolat whey adding one scoop at a time until you get a thick chocolat syrup ( I use extreem power whey isolate) .

2- add 2 egg whites and 1/2 cup of oatmeal and blend again.

3- poor the content from the blender into a large bowl.

4- add 120g All Natural Peanut Butter and mix manually.

5- add another 1/2 cup oatmeal and mix manually.

6- Make 10 balls of equal sizes with the resulting mix.

7- Roll the balls into shredded coconut ( I calculated about 25g of coconut for all)

8- Place balls into cooking pan and cook in oven at 325F for 10 minutes, turn them over and cook for another 10 minutes.

enjoy!

__________________________________________________________________________

This recipie contains only natural, whole foods (with the exception of the protein powder) and tastes AMAZING, you have to try it. I invented it a couple of hours ago and the first batch is incredible, I’ll never have another commercial protein bar ever again.

- 1/2 tsp. cardamom
- 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
- 1/4 cup dates (chopped)
- 1 cup egg whites
- 1 cup fat free milk
- 2 tbs. flax seed (ground)
- 2 tbs. natural peanut butter
- 2 cups rolled oats (toasted)
- 6 scoops protein powder (I used ON chocolate whey)

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees

2. Coat medium size baking pan with non-stick spray

3. (Optional) – Toast the oats in a dry skillet over medium-high heat until slightly browned & crisp

4. Mix oats, egg whites, and milk together in a large mixing bowl. Add 6 scoops of your favorite protein
powder and mix thoroughly. Add dates, flax seed, and peanut butter, and mix well. Add salt, cinnamon, and cardadmom and mix thoroughly.

5. Pour the batter into baking pan and cook for 30-60 minutes or until you reach the desired moisture level.
(alternatively, you can cook at a higher temperature, around 350, for less time, but I’ve heard conflicting reports on how high heat denatures the protein, I’ll let mine go lower, for longer)

6. Remove from oven and place in refridgerator to cool. Cut into 9 equally sized bars

For 9 Bars, each has approximately:

~ 210 calories
~ 21g carbohydrate
~ 5g fat
~ 3g fiber
~ 23g protein

Enjoy! Tell me what you think!

This came from ABCbodybuilding.com

INGREDIENTS

10 tbsp. natural peanut butter
5 egg whites
5 scoops whey protein (I find that chocolate mint tastes the best in this recipe, however chocolate tastes good as well)
2 cups oats (OPTIONAL: For flavor, I dry cook these on a frying pan until they are toasted)
1/2 cup soy milk

DIRECTIONS

Mix the peanut butter and egg whites in a bowl. Microwave on high for 30 seconds, and mix well (so that the mixture appears smooth). Repeat 4-5 times until all traces of egg whites have dissolved into the peanut butter, and your mixture is a smooth consistent one.

Gradually add the protein (one scoop at a time) and stir into the mixture. Next, add the soy milk and follow with the oats. Continue mixing until a thick ‘sticky’ mixture is present.

Smooth the thick mixture into a 13×9 tray and leave for 20-30 minutes. Cut into 10 equal size bars. Individually wrap each bar (I use aluminum foil) and store in the fridge.

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size: 1 Bar

Calories: 220
Protein: 20.1g
Fat: 10.1g
Carbohydrates: 15.1g
After all that, if you still want to go out and get a protein bar, I’ll put a plug in for my favorite: Power Crunch Bars,

endorsed by my favorite athlete, Monica Brant.  These suckers have 200 cals, 12-14g fat, 10c and roughly 12-14g protein.  A nice snack and it tastes like a cookie to boot, so it will keep you on track with your diet!

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Where, oh where has my energy gone?

August 24, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Some questions that I get frequently from people are 1) I want to lose weight, but it never seems to work, why? 2) what do I eat? and 3) I never seem to have any energy, what can I do?  Well, there are a lot of answers to all these questions and the simple (and annoying) answer is “it depends”.   Annoying, but true.  It depends on your situation.  Let’s focus on the main reasons:

1) you have no energy because you don’t eat well, don’t know really what eating well means, don’t exercise, or you exercise too much.  Lots of different variables here.  If you want to break it down into what you should eat, let’s keep it simple: eat things without packaging and labels.  Eat lots of high quality protein.  High quality protein is a chicken breast, pork tenderloin, lean sirloin, etc.  Low quality would be a Special K protein bar.  Things with lots of ingredients (and I don’t mean as part of a recipe) should NOT be a staple in your every day diet.  A sample balanced simple meal?  Chicken breast, kidney beans, steamed broccoli with olive oil.  Not a lot of calories there, but a lot of nutrients.  If you would like help setting up a plan and have no idea where to start, please see my webpage, because I’d be happy to help you meet your goals!

On a second note about energy, if you don’t exercise, well, food is used for fuel and if you don’t use it, you store it.  So you may have lots of stored energy but no circulating energy.  There is nothing more rewarding than building your body and taking care of your muscles and joints.  Even if you just start with walking every day and maybe doing some pushups or bodyweight squats, you’ll notice an increase in energy and ease of breathing and joint mobility.

2) If you have been dieting for any longer length of time without a break, then your metabolism has reset to your lower caloric intake.  If you have hit a plateau, and you WERE losing weights, one of the best things you can do is to take a while and eat at maintenance calories, thus resetting your metabolism to burn calories back at a higher rate, so that when you do resume dieting, you will make progress again.  If you continually drop your calories, and when that doesn’t work, you increase your output (exercise/move more) eventually, your metabolism will bottom out and have no where to go.  By continually resetting your metabolism, you will have a steady drop.  If you over exercise you are likely to experience a myriad of symptoms: tiredness, fatigue, muscle pain/weakness, slight depression, racing heart in the morning, decreased interest in the gym, stalled weight loss, injury, etc.

My quick suggestions?

  • Focus your meals around high quality lean protein (the less packaging the better), fresh vegetables and healthy fats.
  • Take a dieting and workout break every 8-12 weeks.  Bring your calories back up and stay out of the gym for a whole week.  Do nothing besides normal activities, and instead, get a massage, foam roll, stretch, visit the spa and take care of yourself.
  • SLEEP.  It’s underrated and highly needed.  Get at least 8 hours of sleep a few nights a week, until you can stretch that to every night and from then on, listen to your body.  Don’t set your alarm clock and see how many hours you sleep until you wake up naturally.  This will naturally give you more energy (baring any kind of other health issues).
  • Drink water, LOTS!  You can be amazed how much water makes a difference.  Replace your juice, energy drinks or coffee with water and see what a difference it makes.  If you drink enough water you won’t have the caffeine withdrawal headaches.

There are a lot more variables here, but this is a quick over view.  If you would like help setting up your nutrition or workout plan, please check out my webpage for packages, I’d love to help you achieve a vibrant life!

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