carbs

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

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.

 

What’s on the Menu

One of the big components of eating healthy is cooking the majority of your meals at home with whole ingredients. As a working professional I know that meal planning & grocery shopping for an entire week of meals can be time consuming. Fortunately, services like Blue Apron can have all the ingredients you need to make wholesome meals, that meet your dietary preferences, sent right to your door. Plus, if you’re a avid podcaster listener, I’m sure you’ve heard the host give out a Blue Apron promo code to get you a couple free meals. No, I’m not a paid endorser (I wish I was honestly), I just know services like these can reduce individuals reliance on ordering takeout or going out to eat. Shannon and I go into more detail about this awesome service, and meal prep in general, in a past episode of the Addicted to Fitness podcast. Give it a listen and let us know if it convinced you to give Blue Apron a try.

blue-apron

What’s on the Menu

I’m tired of one of my favorite Thanksgiving Day staples being blamed for post feast sleepiness. Tryptophan is an amino acid that contributes to the production of the body’s “calming” hormones serotonin and melatonin. It’s true that turkey contains tryptophan, but no more than any other animal protein. According to the infographic below, a 3 ounce portion contains 250-310 milligrams. If you look at natural sleep aid supplements, like Onnit’s New Mood, a recommended dose contains 2-3 times that amount. The turkey you eat during your meal is not solely responsible for you feeling like you have narcolepsy. 

The real culprit of post Thanksgiving dinner sleepiness is most likely the amount you eat and, in my opinion, the massive amount of sugar you consume. Think about it. The marshmallows & brown sugar on the sweet potato casserole, the cranberry sauce, the obligatory pumpkin pie. All these dishes create a massive blood sugar spike which will almost certainly lead to you passing out in front of the TV while the Lions lose another Thanksgiving Day football game. If you’re interested in not acting like a tranquilized bear after yourThanksgiving Day meal, you may want to eat a little more turkey and ditch the sugary & carby side dishes. With that said, you best believe I’m having some pumpkin pie tomorrow. Happy Thanksgiving peeps!

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Infographic courtesy of Time.com

Thanksgiving Edition of The Macros Game

Shannon and I kick of this week’s episode of the Addicted to Fitness podcast teasing a pair of upcoming Elemental Training Tampa (ETT) events. We make a bold prediction about ETT member Carmin’s fight at Mike Calta’s Punch Out 2, which will have already taken place by the time this episode debuts. Make sure you check out our Instagram or 102.5 The Bone’s website to see if our prediction was correct.  We also mentioned our upcoming group workout taking place November 19th in the Tampa neighborhood of Seminole Heights. If you live in the area and want to participate, RSVP at our Facebook event page. After all the ETT news, Shannon let’s us in on a huge decision she recently made that will certainly change her life for the better.

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For the last decade or more, Shannon has wanted to acquire her yoga teacher certification. She has practiced numerous types of yoga over the years and has even help tudor beginners through basic poses. After years of searching for the right program, she finally took the plunge and invested in the Bella Prana Yoga teacher program. Shannon outlines their curriculum and describes why Bella Prana’s approach to yoga inspired her to enroll. She promises to give us periodic updates about her training over the next several months. I think it’s safe to say that ETT Yoga will be coming soon. One thing you won’t have to wait for is the newest edition of The Macros Game!

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ETT Yoga by Shannon coming soon. Paddle board not included

We are closing in on Thanksgiving Day, which in my opinion is the most epic food holiday of the year. That’s why this edition of the Macros Game will feature common Thanksgiving Day food items. Shannon and I go head to head in this nutritional trivia game to determine who know more about the macronutrient (protein, fat, carbs) content of turkey, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie and several other items you’re likely to see on Turkey Day. Make sure you play along at home and send us your scores.

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In addition to your Macros Game scores, we’d love for you all to send us your thoughts and comments about the podcast. Better yet, leave us a rating and review in the iTunes store. You may not realize it but those rating and reviews help us grow our listening audience. We’re always appreciative of your support and feedback. Keep listening, keep sharing and stay healthy this week peeps!

Links to this week’s episode

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/thanksgiving-edition-macros/id1121420986?i=1000377818029&mt=2

Android: http://subscribeonandroid.com/addictedtofitness.libsyn.com/rss

Website: http://addictedtofitness.libsyn.com/thanksgiving-edition-of-the-macros-game

What’s on the Menu

Being a Maryland native, I’m predisposed to like crab cakes. It’s in my blood. In my opinion, the blue crab should be the state animal. Do states even have state animals? Anyways, I love this delectable seafood dish and depending on the ingredients, a crab cake itself can be rather healthy. My grandmother would use a little bit of flour as her binding agent, but the prominent ingredient, and rightly so, was the crab. Three ounces of cooked blue crab contains 15g of protein and almost half of your recommended daily allowance of vitamin B-12. The naughtiness of this awesome dish usually arrives with the addition of a sauce or a bun if you have it as a sandwich. The version you see below, created by my talented wife Shannon, is the gluten free version of a crab cake “sandwich.” The crab is held together with egg, mayo and gluten free breadcrumbs and the “bun” is a portobello mushroom. I can tell you it would make my grandmother proud. If you’re sticking to a strict low carb diet you can ditch the potatoes for another vegetable. Trust me, you’re going to want to add this dish into your weekly meal plan.

An Interview with Certified Diabetes Educator Nicole Recine

The highly anticipated interview with certified diabetes educator (CDE) Nicole Recine has finally made its way to the Addicted to Fitness podcast. In addition to being a CDE, Nicole is also a registered nurse and soon to be nurse practitioner. She has made numerous guest appearances on other podcasts including our friend Vinne Tortorich’s Fitness Confidential podcast. I hope you were looking forward to this as much as I was because Nicole doles out a ton of awesome health and nutrition information during this interview. Nicole and I discuss numerous topics including the difference between type 1 & type 2 diabetes, the insulin response created by certain foods and how a high fat-low carb diet may be the key to weight loss. If you’ve tried to lose weight and been unsuccessful, you may want to schedule a phone consultation with Nicole. Just head to her website for all the details on how you can enlist her services.

The interview is definitely the focal point, but we also release the dates for a pair of upcoming ETT events on this episode. If you’re interested in finding out more about those events, just like us on Facebook. We’d also really appreciate if you’d give us a rating and review on iTunes. Your feedback helps us reach more people. Thanks for listening and stay healthy this week peeps!

Links to this week’s episode

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/addicted-to-fitness-podcast/id1121420986?mt=2

Android: http://subscribeonandroid.com/addictedtofitness.libsyn.com/rss

Website: http://addictedtofitness.libsyn.com/an-interview-with-certified-diabetes-educator-nicole-recine