food

What’s on the Menu – Following KISS

I’ve discovered that following KISS has brought a certain level of ease to my life. Just to clarify I’m not talking about the rock band Kiss. I’m referring to the acronym KISS, which stands for “Keep It Simple Stupid.” I try to apply KISS to all aspects of my life, but one aspect in which I use it the most is my nutrition. I’ve tried my best to convey my predisposition to consuming food & drink that consists of the fewest whole ingredients possible. Which is why it should be no surprise that my preferred protein powder consists of only one ingredient.

The ever expanding selection of protein powders has, in my opinion, reached a ridiculous level. Trying to be educated on the laundry list of ingredients contained in certain protein powders can be even more overwhelming. That’s why I use collagen hydrolysate from Great Lakes when I want to add a little protein to my morning coffee or veggie & fruit smoothie. This brand of collagen hydrolysate is created by the application of heat and/or enzymes to beef collagen from grass fed cows to change its molecular weight. The change in molecular weight is what gives the hydrolysate the ability to dissolve in both hot and cold liquids. Not only does it dissolve in essentially any beverage, it is LEGITIMATELY unflavored. They don’t add any real or artificial sweeteners in an attempt to make your healthy meal replacement drink into a nummy milkshake. Nutritionally speaking, 1 tbsp contains 25 calories, 6g of protein and 0g of both carbs and fat. It is a pure protein that is high in amino acids like glycine, lysine and proline which are essential for the growth of hair, skin, muscle, cartilage and ligament cells (source). Oh and the price? Try about $23 for the can pictured below, which contains about thirty-one 2 tbsp servings. I’ll admit that the health benefits and affordability of this protein supplement are enticing, but it’s the recommendations from health & nutrition professionals I trust that really sold me on it.

I’ve heard nutrition experts like Vinnie Tortorich, Anna Vocino and Dr. Rhonda Patrick recommend Great Lakes collagen hydrolysate many times. I’ve even seen Tim Ferriss feature it in a recent video about his morning routine. I trust these experts and appreciate the fact that this particular protein powder matches my KISS approach to nutrition. Let us know if you practice KISS and which areas of your life you apply it to. Feel free to send us feedback at nick@elementaltampa.com or hit us up on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.

protein-powder

What’s on the Menu – Grocery Shopping Prerequisite

We’ve all done it. It’s a mistake that I’m sure grocery stores are happy people make week in and week out. No, I’m not talking about forgetting your reusable grocery bags. I’m talking about going to the grocery store HUNGRY.

We seemed to be focused on grocery shopping this week on elementaltampa.com, and for good reason. The choices you make at the grocery store can have a significant effect on how you look and feel. You may not realize it but those choices can be influenced by the level of hunger you have before you step into the grocery store. In as 2013 study, researchers found that individuals that went grocery shopping while “hungry” were more likely buy high-caloric unhealthy foods (chips, candy, etc.) than those that ate before shopping for groceries. Another study confirmed these findings by documenting individuals that went grocery shopping before dinner time, 4-7pm, buying more unhealthy foods than those people that went shopping after lunch, 1-4pm (source). The “feast or famine” mentality left over from our primitive ancestors may want us to eat everything in sight when we’re hungry, but there are certain steps we can take to prevent us from bringing home a barrel sized container of cheese balls.

Shannon and I have discovered several ways to prevent impulse buys while grocery shopping, but none work as well as eating before you go. A couple of our go to pre-grocery shopping snacks are raw cashews and/or cured meat with cheese. Both snacks are nutritious (cashews: 6g fat, 4g carbs, 2.5g protein per ounce; genoa+provolone: 26 g fat, 21g protein, no carbs per package), shareable, portable and most importantly satiating. I’ve, and some scientific research, found that foods containing a significant amount of protein and/or fat will help you stay fuller longer and hold back that pesky hunger hormone gherlin.

Hopefully you are already practicing this pre-grocery shopping ritual. If so, send us pictures of your pre-grocery shopping snacks. We’re always looking to expand our repertoire.

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What’s on the Menu – The Other Red Meat

If you’ve been paying attention to my weekly menu spotlights, you’ve probably realized that I don’t discriminate when it comes to food. Well, that’s not entirely true. I do my best to stay away from anything that contains refined sugars and grains, but other than that I’m an omnivore through and through. I say that because last week’s post and today’s post feature foods that are not exactly vegan friendly. I want my vegan friends to know that I’m not discriminating against you all. Shannon is a former vegan and she still makes some delicious vegan dishes and I promise to feature one in an upcoming post. But today’s post is dedicated to very special type of red meat.

The steaks featured below can’t be found in the grocery store. They don’t come from any factory farms or feedlots. They come from the fields, woods, and prairies. These are steaks from a whitetail deer. Deer meat, better known as venison, along with other wild game meat tend to have lower caloric and fat content but equal amounts of protein compared to meat from conventionally raised livestock. Venison in particular has approximately 150 calories, 24 g of protein and 1.5 g of fat per 3.5 ounce serving (source). Any regular readers of the blog will know that I am not afraid of fat so the idea of the meat having less fat doesn’t exactly thrill me, but venison and other wild game have a better ratio of omega 6 to omega 3 fatty acids, which researchers have found could help mitigate certain chronic diseases/conditions (source). Eating wild game like venison not only provides nutritional benefits, it also allows you to be less reliant on factory farmed meat.

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Legit wild game is not regulated by the USDA, which means it cannot be sold in supermarkets. I believe this is a good thing because it inspires people to take up hunting or in most instances, connect with a friend or family member that does hunt. Having grown up in a hunting family, I can tell you from experience that hunters are extremely generous when it comes to sharing their harvest. Take these folks up on their generosity because the less reliant we are on meat from factory farms, the better off we, and the planet, will be.

If you already eat wild game on a regular basis, let us know what your favorite type and preparation method is. Feel free to contact us elementaltampa@gmail.com with any recipes.

What’s on the Menu – An Egg-squisite meal

Shannon’s saucy tomato eggs dish is one of my favorite brunch options. I mean favorite of all time!  I prefer it over 90% of the stuff I can order at my favorite brunch restaurant. What’s not to like? Fresh herbs & veggies – good. Italian sausage – good. Eggs – GOOOOOD!!! The combination of ingredients creates an absolute flavor explosion, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention my favorite part of this dish. I’m sure you’ve already figured out from the title of this post, that it’s really an homage to eggs.

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Let’s be serious folks, eggs are the best whole food on the planet.

I know vegans will disagree but one egg provides 6g of protein, 5g of fat (1.5g saturated) and 0g of carbs. They also provide essential micronutrients like choline, selenium, and leucine, which is essential to the production of muscle protein (source).

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If the nutritional benefits aren’t enough, the number of ways you can prepare them is almost endless. I don’t want to go on a Bubba Gump-like rant, but you can enjoy eggs fried, poached, scrambled, basted, hard boiled and I’m sure there are preparation methods I don’t even know about.

Before I rest my case on eggs’ superiority, I should mention that all these facts are about WHOLE EGGS. If you have an egg allergy, I get ditching the yolk, but all of you who think you’re being healthier eating only egg whites, you are sadly mistaken. You’re missing out on the vast majority of the nutritional benefits due to outdated nutrition advice, most likely misinformation about cholesterol. I’d recommend checking out Ivor Cummins’ (aka “The Fat Emperor”) website and get educated on why you should be putting whole eggs back on your menu.*

If you’re interested in making some saucy tomato eggs at home, check out the recipe on Shannon’s site.

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If you think you have an egg dish that can rival Shannon’s saucy tomato eggs, which is highly unlikely, send some pics or a recipe our way so we can check it out!

You can always leave us feedback either on Facebook or email us at elementaltampa@gmail.com.

 

*I’m not a certified dietician so you should seek a professional’s input if you have any specific health concerns regarding your diet.

What’s on the Menu – Butter is back!

We’ve been told for decades that this particular food item can be a major obstacle to losing weight and being healthy. I’m talking about the ingredient that is making the dish below glisten like a newly shined automobile.

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That’s right I’m talking about BUTTER!

It seems back in the 1960’s, butter and other saturated fats (e.g. cream, coconut oil, lard) were labeled as unhealthy by our government. This was most likely due to some possibly-bias research provided by Ancel Keys. Keys and his Seven Country Study asserted that individuals that had a higher intake of saturated fat were more apt to develop heart disease. We’ve recently discovered that his research may have been swayed by the Sugar Association and that higher mortality rates were most likely due to the higher consumption of saturated fat in conjunction with sugar.

The debate of who’s right still rages on, but scientists and researchers like Dr. Mark Hyman, Nina Teicholz and Gary Taubes have discovered that saturated fat is not the villain, it was once painted to be.

Now, I don’t want anyone to think they should start eating sticks of butter like Homer Simpson or Paula Deen, but I think it’s safe to say you should feel comfortable to cook eggs, melt and drizzle on steamed veggies, or create a sauce for a delicious salmon dinner (like the one pictured above) using butter.

One tablespoon of butter contains 100 calories and 12 g of total fat (8 g saturated) with no carbs or protein. Not exactly a complete food, but the fat it provides is essential for the production of hormones, energy, and cell membranes (source).

Also, in a world of processed foods with mile-long ingredient lists, a quality butter has AT THE MOST 2 ingredients: cultured pasteurized cream and salt.

It’s important for me to state that I’m not a doctor. Shocked as you all may be, I would never recommend taking my dietary suggestions over those from a medical professional. However, I’m pretty confident that if Shannon, the chef for the meal above, made this dish for a medical professional, they’d agree that butter is BETTER!

We want to see the delicious dishes you’ve made with butter. Tag your photos on social with #ETTampa or leave comments below on how you’ve ditched manufactured vegetable oils for the real thing.

What’s on the Menu

This week’s menu highlight features another one of my wife’s awesome culinary creations. The dish below combines shrimp, spinach, mushrooms and spaghetti squash in an olive oil, butter sauce to produce a fantastic weekday dinner. Not only does this meal’s caloric breakdown match my desired macronutrient intake (60% fat, 25% carbs, 15% protein), the spaghetti squash produces far less of an insulin response than its similarly named refined carb doppelgänger. I’m not really into counting calories but if you are, spaghetti squash has 20 calories per cup compared to pasta’s 100. It also contains 24 less grams of carbohydrates than pasta and is full of important vitamins and minerals like vitamins C, B and folate (source). It may take a little longer to prepare than pasta, but the end product is much more flavorful and better for you. Even though these fruits, yes they’re fruits, are harvested in the fall, you can still get them at the grocery store into winter and early spring. Grab one on your next trip to the grocery store and send us some pics of your spaghetti squash creations.

How to prepare spaghetti squash

  • Preheat oven to 375 degrees
  • Cut spaghetti squash lengthwise
  • Scoop out seeds
  • Drizzle with cut side with olive oil & salt
  • Place cut side down on baking sheet
  • Cook for approximately 45 minutes

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What’s on the Menu

If you’ve been following this blog for an extended period of time, you are probably privy to the fact that I’m a devout omnivore. That devotion is what inspires me to order the “charcuterie board” whenever I see it on a restaurant’s menu.

Meat and cheese may seem simple, but the variety of flavors that can exist within those two food categories appears to be endless. Which is why when Shannon asked me what we should have for a mid afternoon snack on Christmas I almost involuntarily responded, “charcuterie!”

I’ll admit right now that I had no idea that my request would result in the picture you see below.

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(Vegan Cheeze Dip in the top left corner)

As you can see the board contained a variety of meats and cheeses, but it also contained Shannon’s vegan cheeze dip. I know what you’re thinking “How the hell can cheese dip be vegan?” Fortunately, the answer to that question is ridiculously simple. Check out the recipe from her blog to see why:

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 1/2 cup Raw Cashews
  • 2-3 Garlic Cloves
  • 1 1/2 cup Nutritional Yeast
  • 3/4 cup Water
  • 3 tbsp Fresh Lemon Juice
  • 1 tsp Dijon Mustard
  • 1 tsp Chili Powder
  • pinch of Cayenne Powder
  • pinch of Turmeric

DIRECTIONS:

Dump all the ingredients into a food processor and blend till creamy.

This recipe is perfect for everyone! It doesn’t contain any dairy, the cashews are full of healthy fats (source), the nutritional yeast has a surprising amount of protein (source) and the vast majority of its carbs come from fiber.

You make this dip for you next big party and I promise you’ll be having people asking you for the recipe. Just make sure you tell them you got it from elementaltampa.com!

What’s on the Menu

Spaghetti and meatballs. I feel like those two have been perpetually linked since the beginning of time, or since pasta has been a thing. Fortunately, we’ve discovered that meatballs don’t always need a refined carb counterpart. This week’s look into Shannon and I’s menu features turkey meatballs paired with garlic sautéed baby bok choy instead of pasta. Bok choy is a great pasta alternative because it’s a cruciferous vegetable that is loaded with vitamins A, K, and C and contains over 70 antioxidants, which is why some researchers believe it can aid in cancer prevention (source). Expanding our food choices, especially when it comes to vegetables, is crucial to optimizing our health and developing as a species (source). The next time you go grocery shopping, forget the box of barilla and go for the bok choy. If you are already a bok choy fan, let us know what dishes you incorporate it into. We’re always looking for new recipes.