macros

What’s on the Menu – Goes Together Like Peas & Coffee

A few weeks ago I shared my favorite dairy coffee creamer, but I want to let all you know that I’m also a fan of nondairy creamers. As mentioned in the previous post the variety of nondairy choices you have to choose from is borderline overwhelming.

Soy, almond, and coconut are probably the most popular (besides the uber processed coffemate), but there is one that is starting to show up more in stores that I believe provides the most nutritional benefits.

Ripple Foods produces “milk” made up primarily of pea protein. Eight ounces contain nearly 5 g of fat and 8 grams of protein. It doesn’t have as short of an ingredient list as I’m use to, but it’s much more nutritious than almond milk.

Too much dairy wreaks havoc on my digestion so I like to add this and some unsweetened coconut milk to one of my daily coffee concoctions.

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What’s On The Menu – The OG of Coffee Creamers

The coffee creamer industry has really blown up in the past couple decades. Every grocery store now has multiple shelves dedicated to every type of creamer you can imagine.

Hazelnut flavored creamer made from soy milk? Got it!

Pumpkin spiced flavored creamer made from almond milk? You betcha!

I, on the other hand, prefer the original coffee creamer.

ACTUAL CREAM!

Besides collagen from Great Lakes, heavy cream is my preferred coffee additive. Two tbsp contains 12 g of fat (mostly saturated) and no sugar or carbs. It does contain a small amount of lactose so those that are intolerant may want to use unsweetened coconut milk if they want a fatty coffee creamer.

Just stay away from the sugar-laden creamers filled with artificial ingredients.

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Addicted to Fitness Show Notes – A Review of Food4Thought_F4T Meal Prep Service

This week’s episode includes a recap and a review.

First, let’s talk about Nick and my training.

To be honest, it’s been a bit light on my side. Taking care of our little one and traveling for the holiday took over most of my week. However, I was able to squeeze in some short yoga and spinning sessions at home. As much as I love spending time with our little girl, I do confess how much I’m looking forward to getting back in the yoga studio for a full hour-long yoga session.

Nick meanwhile, has been truly enjoying his training sessions as they also serve as workouts. His fellow trainers at Tampa Strength have been passing along some new exercises that Nick has been busy learning, as they all prepare to launch a new training program targeted at moms. More details to come soon!

I made a comment about a hypothesis that more people are trying to be health conscious around the holidays nowadays, rather than waiting until after. This has actually been our approach in recent years – balancing the big holiday feasts with activity and more wholesome, light meals.  In fact, we actually discussed ways to survive holiday eating in a past podcast (listen to the episode here).

Nick suggest another great idea to stay health conscious around the holiday. The members of Tampa Strength are taking part in a challenge called Project Zero, which involves focusing on maintaining your weight through the holidays instead of obsessing about losing weight. It acts as a great accountability tool to help participants be more mindful about holiday eating. It also has financial incentives, which always prove to be a great motivator as well.

As for our holiday, we followed our usual Thanksgiving tradition, driving to see family. This year’s biggest difference was that we had the baby to introduce to everyone, which proved to be a lot more work than we anticipated. If you have any interesting holiday stories you’d like to share, please feel free to share them with us on the Addicted to Fitness Podcast Facebook page.

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Our review this week features a meal service from right here in Tampa Bay.

It’s not the first meal service that we’ve tried given the number of companies in this particular industry. We’ve used larger meal services like Blue Apron previously, who have grown to the point of going public this year and apparently been slipping in their rating as well as their stock price, and also tried some other local meal prep companies (which we’ve previously reviewed in an earlier podcast episode).

This time around, we are sampling Food4ThoughtF4T, who reached out to us on Instagram and asked if we’d be interested in trying their meals. Owner, cook and delivery person, Adrienne Padron, dropped off several meals and asked us to review them. Being fans of food in general, we researched the company and decided to give it a go!

Food4ThoughtF4T has easy online ordering available and even delivers to local customers. You can enjoy multiple meal quantity packages (whose menus change each week) with the average cost per meal being $7.50. The meal options range from vegetarian, seafood, poultry and red meat.

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I reviewed a couple of meals – “Caramelized Onion Turkey Burger” and “Chicken Fried Rice” – that Nick chose for me. Nick tackled the “Protein Packed Prosciutto Quinoa Salad” and “Buffalo Chicken Lettuce Wraps.”

Pros:

  • Compact packaging that even separates out some of the ingredients to prevent items like lettuce from going bad
  • Use of cheese to add flavor
  • Ingredients are fresh
  • Ingredients and macros are included on the packaging

Cons:

  • Some of the dishes can be a bit on the bland side
  • No real heating instructions on the package
  • Nutrition info not included on the website

Be sure to reach out to them for more info – email – help@food4thoughtf4t.com; number – (813) 586-1348 – or visit their website to pick out your meals and get started today!

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If you haven’t done so already, please head to iTunes (link) give us a rating and review. We’d also appreciate it if you’d support our sponsors. Stop on by their website, hempcoffeeexchange.com, and research their products. When you’re ready to buy their sustainable super coffee, use the promo code “ATF” will get 20% off your order.

As always thanks for listening & sharing the podcast and stay healthy this week peeps!

Links to this week’s episode:

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/a-review-of-food4thought-f4t-meal-prep-service/id1121420986?i=1000395585338&mt=2

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/nick-burch-702220833/a-review-of-food4thought_f4t

Website: http://addictedtofitness.libsyn.com/review-of-meals-from-food4thoughtf4t-meal-prep-service

Addicted to Fitness Show Notes – 2nd Annual Thanksgiving Day Macros Game

Autumn is in full swing, the Halloween candy has been devoured, and signs advertising turkeys are posted in pretty much every grocery store window in America. Yes, it is almost Thanksgiving time! Which is why this week, we’re bringing you the return of our Thanksgiving Marcos Game where Nick and I face off in a battle of nutrition knowledge (kind of) and deductive reasoning.

But first, we highlight training notes for the week and share a tip for your holiday eating this year.

Let’s start with Nick’s training. He’s been enjoying a surprising aspect of his position teaching classes at Title Boxing & Kickboxing; he gets to meet a wide range of individuals, including a YMCA sports director and a science professor at our Alma Mater (University of Tampa). The feedback from those taking has class have been flowing in and it’s been really positive. Meanwhile, the ETT tribe has also added some new members recently in addition to welcoming back some returning folks.

Finally, Nick hinted that we’ll soon have some exciting information to share about a new program geared towards moms that Nick will be launching soon at Tampa Strength. More to come on that in a future episode, so stay tuned!

I, meanwhile, missed the mark on my training targets this past week due to some increased time demands from our baby girl. However, I did manage to get on the Peloton for a couple rides and incorporate some short yoga and circuit training workouts in addition to the daily walks/trips with the little one and our dog. Any activity is good!

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Now, we’ve talked about some holiday eating tips in the past (check out that episode here), but this year, we’re bringing you something new! And it all goes back to a very simple instruction that you probably heard from your parents growing up – Chew your food.

I discovered an interesting story in a book that we’ve had on our shelves for some time, that described the importance of chewing and cited a story from a book by Lino Stanchich, Power Eating Program: You Are How You Eat. The story was about Lino’s father, Antonio, who was a concentration camp survivor.

Hear the whole story in our podcast, but the quick summary is that Antonio and his two friends who practiced chewing their water (yes their water) survived the labor camp amidst starvation conditions, while the 29 other people in that camp did not. Chewing the water gave them more energy! The very act of chewing impacted their ability to survive with so little food.

Once Antonio was free and home, he tested the impact of chewing on his food (once up to 300 times per bite!) and found that chewing a bite of food (150 times per bite was the sweet spot he discovered) had tremendous results on his energy. Official studies have also detailed how important chewing your food is, primarily because properly chewing your food allows the rest of your digestive system to do their own jobs, versus taking extra energy to do the job of breaking down food. This is why you feel so tired after large Thanksgiving meals – you likely didn’t chew your food and your digestive system was having to do overtime to digest that monster meal!

So this year, take a page out of Antonio’s book (or rather his son, Lino’s) and really chew  each bite of your holiday meal. You don’t have to aim for 150 bites, but set a reasonable goal of 12 or 20 – just to try – and see if you feel more satisfied and have more energy by the end of your meal. It truly comes down to enjoying each and every bite. You’ll likely consume less food too, which your waistline will appreciate.

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Next we break into our 2nd Annual Thanksgiving Macros Game! (Test your knowledge and hear how we scored on the first game in this previous episode.)

For anyone who is unfamiliar with the Macros Game, it is a nutritional trivia game that requires the contestants to guess the macro nutrient (fat, protein or carbohydrate specifically) when given its amount in a serving of a certain food.

This time around, Nick and I test each other’s nutritional knowledge on foods like bone-in ham, mash potatoes, apple pie, and more items you’ll probably see on your Thanksgiving table. Listen to the podcast to see whether I was able to maintain my winning streak or if Nick broke through with the win.

Also, make sure you play along and send us your scores. If  you get a perfect score we’ll share it on all our social channels with a special shout out post!

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As we conclude, we have to share a special congrats to our sponsors at The Hemp & Coffee Exchange for closing on their first brick-and-mortar store location. More details on that announcement to come soon.

For those who don’t live in the Tampa Bay Area, you can still enjoy their sustainable super-coffee by visiting hempcoffeeexchange.com, and using the code “ATF” at checkout to get 20% off your order. It makes an incredible gift for the coffee-lovers in your life!

As always, please take a minute (seriously, it’s that fast) to rate and review the podcast in iTunes and on the Addicted to Fitness Podcast Facebook page.

Connect with us via email (elementaltampa@gmail.com) and on social media (Facebook, Instagram or Twitter).

Links to this week’s episode:

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/2nd-annual-thanksgiving-day-macros-game/id1121420986?i=1000394733610&mt=2

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/nick-burch-702220833/2nd-annual-thanksgiving-day

Website: http://addictedtofitness.libsyn.com/2nd-annual-thanksgiving-day-macros-game

What’s On The Menu – Pasture Raised Chicken: Is It Worth It?

I, like many of you, am faced with a variety of chicken choices when I go to the grocery store each week. Do I buy organic, free-range, pasture raised or conventionally raised? The choices seem to be growing by the year, but is one superior to the other?

Much like beef, I believe that chickens raised in a way that closely resembles the lives their wild ancestors live (e.g. 24/7 access to open pastures & ability to forge for insects and other food sources) provides a better animal welfare situation than that of birds caged in confined quarters.

When looking into potential environmental impacts of pasture raised chickens, the research is mixed. Some individuals contend that pasture raised chickens take more resources to produce (source) while other cite the facts that these chickens eliminate the need for fertilizer and their food sources don’t require any herbicides to produce (source).

Those aspects are important to consider when purchasing your chicken, but the main goal of this week’s menu spotlight is to determine if pasture raised chicken is nutritionally superiority to its conventional counterpart.

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Let’s take a quick look at the macronutrients contained in both pasture & conventionally raised chicken. One cup of a roasted chicken breast contains 231 calories, 43 grams (g) of protein, 5 g of fat and 0 g of carbs. It should be noted that different parts of the chicken, skin-on or skin-off, contain different nutritional values. No matter what part of the chicken you prefer, they all contain a substantial amount of protein.

To determine which one is nutritional superior, were going to have to look at their respective micronutrients. Luckily, the American Pastured Poultry Producers Association (APPPA) performed a study in 2013 comparing the micronutritional difference between pasture raised and non-pasture raised chickens. The results of their study showed that pasture raised chickens were higher in vitamin D3 and E, both of which are important to mitigating auto immune diseases.

The APPPA study also discovered that the pasture raised chicken contained an omega 6 to omega 3 fatty acid ratio of 5:1 while the standard 6:3 ratio for conventionally raised chicken is 15:1 (source). This is important because recent research suggest that foods containing large amounts of omega 6’s (e.g. vegetable oils & fast food) could lead to inflammatory disease like cardiovascular disease, obesity, cancer, and more (source).

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After looking at the preliminary evidence, I have reached a verdict: pasture raised chicken is nutritional superior. Yes, a pasture raised chicken from the store or a local farmer could cost 2-3 times more than a conventionally raised chicken, but like the old saying goes “You get what you pay for.” If chicken is one of your primary protein sources, and you are interested in optimizing your nutrition, you may want to think about forking over the extra dough.

If you’re a regular consumer of pasture raised chicken, I’d love to hear some of your go to recipes. One of my favorite recipes that uses chicken, pasture raised or not, is chicken pot pie soup (recipe link). I skip the pie crust and do my best to use gluten-free ingredients, but I highly recommed you do yourself a favor and make it tonight! Feel free to send a pic of your delicious chicken recipe to us on social media (Facebook, Instagram or Twitter) or you can email it to elementaltampa@gmail.com.

You can also take advantage of the complimentary fitness consultations we’re currently offering by emailing us. Whether you need advice on nutrition or just want workout tips, I’d be happy to set up an appointment with you to discuss how you can improve your fitness.

Addicted to Fitness Show Notes – What’s Up with Coconut Oil & The 1776 Edition of the Macros Game

Nick let me take over the show notes today for our special holiday episode.

First off a couple of special announcements.

We want to thank you all for your nominations for Creative Loafing’s Best of the Bay 2017! Later in the month, voting will start and we’ll most likely need your help once again. For now, mark your calendars and check back on cltampa.com/botb2017 later in July.

In the meantime, if you’re interested in a free fitness consultation from ETTampa, email Nick at elementaltampa@gmail.com. He’s offering up a 30-min phone/Skype call, regardless of location.

Training Recap

While Nick is lifting more at Tampa Strength, he’s also using some new toys. One, called a landmine attachment, is especially great for rotational exercises.

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Landmine attachment image courtesy of amazon.com

I’ve been making some adjustments due to the pregnancy even on the Peloton, since my heart rate spikes up faster these days during training. I’ve also been taking prenatal yoga classes, which teaches you how to move with your body when you’re going through some pretty incredible changes. It’s definitely helped me to see what an important need for prenatal and even beyond (fourth trimester) yoga is and has me thinking it’s an area I might want to take my training.

Now onto the main events.

Many people have been talking about the recent USA Today article, “Coconut oil isn’t healthy. It’s never been healthy.”

People have been reaching out to Nick for his opinions, which is ironic because it followed a blog post that he published a few weeks before this one was published. The USA Today article reports that the American Heart Association’s (AHA) recommendation is NOT to use coconut oil because it could raise LDL cholesterol which could lead to cardiovascular disease.

Coconut oil is almost entirely saturated fat, which we’ve discussed the beneficial aspects of before on the podcast, but it is still being vilified by certain organizations. Stating that coconut oil doesn’t provide any health benefits is untrue; it’s great for skin, anti-pathogenic and does contain medium chain triglycerides, which are less likely to be stored as fat.

After examining the details, the article’s title is total click-bait because it actually goes on to discuss why you should keep your coconut oil including how coconut oil won’t turn to trans fat like certain vegetable oils, which the AHA recommends you use.

Our recommendation is not to throw the baby out with the bath water. Use coconut oil in moderation and check out some more facts, like those in the TIME article on coconut oil, which is more non-partisan.

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The 1776 Edition of the Macros Game

For anyone that is unfamiliar with the Macros Game, it is a nutritional trivia game that requires the contestants (Nick and I) to guess the macronutrient (fat, protein or carbohydrate) when given its amount in one serving of a specific food.

So, since this comes out in time for Independence day, we’re doing a 1776 edition of the Macros game featuring foods that were popular at that time and are still available today (in some form or another).

You should definitely listen to the full game on the podcast. Some of the food items featured in this edition of the Macros game include:

  • mutton (adult sheep – which particularly grossed me out)
  • oysters
  • scrapple (one of Nick’s fav’s)
  • corn chowder

This Macros game has a shocking result so make sure you listen! Feel free to play along and send us your scores.

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As we wrap it up, here’s a friendly reminder to take advantage of the ETTampa free fitness consultation. If you are looking for a little guidance, whether it be for exercise, nutrition or even accountability, send Nick an email at elementaltampa@gmail.com. We’d also love it if you connect with us on social media (Facebook, Instagram or Twitter).

Links for this week’s episode

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/whats-up-with-coconut-oil-a-1776-edition-of-the-macros-game/id1121420986?i=1000389464597&mt=2

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/nick-burch-702220833/whats-up-with-coconut-oil-a

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