 Brain Pate |
This is a recipe for a creamy seafood pate, or dip, which you can put on crackers, vegetables, or wedges of bread. You will need to get a brain mold, or some other kind of mold, to use to shape your pate. Makes a nice shrimp or crab flavored dip, which can be spooky as long as you use a spooky mold.
I found this brain mold for sale on Amazon. You can pick one up and do some additional Christmas shopping for the kids while you are at it.
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 Whole Grain Pita |
Another great gross-out Halloween snack for you and the kiddies. Looks like someone just squeezed a bit zit! Arrange them on an hors d’oeuvres platter as the recipe says, and you will have a fun and healthy treat for a Halloween get together.
You could also make a handful of these and keep them in the fridge for a quick snack or a small meal. They are also easily taken to work for lunch because they are small and very portable.
 Antioxidant Girl |
Instead of thinking about things you should not eat, consider foods you can add to your eating plan to help fight disease. One disease or condition that is common to all animals and people is called oxidation.
Like rust on a car, oxidation can cause damage to cells and may contribute to aging. Oxidation causes the formation of substances called free radicals, which is the primary cause of age related skin wrinkles and pigment discoloration.
 Budget Cuts |
An athlete’s fridge and cabinets should be stocked full of nutritious, muscle building, healthy foods. The biggest problem with that, is the fact that today’s economy does not allow most of us to spend as freely as we used to. It is much harder these days to spend $200 a week on bodybuilding food, than it was 10 years ago. Besides, most of us want to squirrel away as much l00t as possible so we can retire early. May Adibuddha help you if you’re a college student, go buy some Ramen.
Also, I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to spend an hour a day preparing food. I’m not trying to cook a chicken everyday for lunch. I don’t have time to whip up a 7 veggie, 2 cheese omelette’s every morning. However, the reality is that we need lots of healthy foods to helps us build muscle and lose fat. That being said, lets examine how we can eat properly while minimizing the grocery bill and food preparation time.
Cottage Cheese is a great high protein snack that is often underestimated for its usefulness in a high-protein, low carb diet. Just one half cup serving of 2% cottage cheese has 16 grams of protein. For those of you who closely monitor their carb intake, you will be happy to know that a serving of cottage cheese contains only 4-5 grams of carbohydrates. This nutritional profile is perfect for those of us watching what we eat in order to lose fat, gain muscle, or just eat healthy food.
The taste of chicken, tuna, protein shakes, and protein bars gets old after a while. Since we need these kind of high protein, low carb foods, we are forced to look around for any possible food alternatives. Enter our friend cottage cheese. By snacking every 3-4 hours on foods like cottage cheese, we are able to further our goals to look good naked, set personal records, or whatever your fitness goals might be.
Cottage cheese can be a tasty addition to your protein choices. If you’ve avoided cottage cheese because you’ve envisioned the only way of serving it was plopping it on a lonely lettuce leaf, here are a few flavor combinations for you to try with your next scoop.
Cottage Cheese and Tuna: A mixture you can take anywhere or eat with anything. I used to survive on this stuff. Just mix a half can of tuna with a half cup of cottage cheese and eat. Top salads with it, make a sandwich, eat it plain, experiment with various spices.
Pepper: Sprinkle cottage cheese with a few dashes of fresh crack pepper.
Pseudo Tapioca Pudding: If you like tapioca pudding, try this low-carb alternative. For each ½ cup serving, mix in ½ tsp vanilla flavoring and 1 packet artificial sweetener.
Fresh Fruit: A few blueberries, diced peaches, strawberries, chopped banana, or pineapple chunks sprinkled on top go a long way with cottage cheese. Stick with the berries if you prefer low-glycemic fruits. If the fructose is a concern, try using dash of tropical or strawberry-banana flavored sugar-free drink mix as an alternative fruity flavoring.
Jelly and Curds: Add 1 tbsp no-added-sugar jam or jelly per ½ cup cottage cheese.
Chocolate Delight: Add a ½ scoop of chocolate flavored protein (or 1 tsp of cocoa + 2 packets artificial sweetener), 1 tbsp sugar-free chocolate instant pudding mix and whip in blender (you may need to add a little water or milk to thin it a little bit). Top with diced walnuts or almonds if desired and chill until set or ready to eat.
Cottage Cheese Over Potatoes: Combine 1/2 cup cottage cheese, freshly chopped herbs (suggestion: oregano, basil, chives), a pinch of salt, and an optional splash of lemon juice in a blender. Serve over hot baked potatoes.
Fruit Dip: Combine 1 cup cottage cheese, 1 packet of sugar substitute (I like Splenda), 1 tsp cinnamon, and 1/2 tsp vanilla extract in a blender. Serve with fruit or use as a topping on other desserts like nut bread or banana bread.
Bean and Avocado Salad: Mix together 1 part chopped cooked green beans, 1 part cooked kidney beans, 1 part chopped avocado, 1 part cottage cheese, a splash of lemon juice, and a pinch of salt. Serve cold. Leave out avocado if you don’t like it, the bean salad is still excellent.
Now go eat your curds and whey!
The first part of this recipe provides your workout for the day. Step 1: go out into the woods and find yourself a fat wild turkey. Step 2: run after him until he grows tired from flying away from you, then jump on him. Step 3: now submit him with a well placed triangle choke and drag him home for dinner.
OK, I kid. But seriously, turkey is a very healthy meat. You should choose turkey over beef, pork, lamb, and other darker, fattier meats. Tonight we will make some nice turkey burgers on the grill, and this is how we will do it:
 Turkey Burger |
1 pound of lean ground turkey
4 tablespoons of fat free or low fat mayonnaise, you could also try miracle whip but it is sweeter
4 tablespoons of barbecue sauce
1/2 cup fresh, diced or sliced tomatoes
4 large leaves of green leaf lettuce
a pinch or two of salt
a pinch or two of freshly ground black pepper
whole grain sandwich buns
Start by preheating the grill to medium-high. Mold the ground turkey into 4, 1/2 inch thick patties. Season with salt and pepper. Grill the burgers for about 6 minutes per side, or until they are cooked through. In the meantime I recommend also toasting the rolls on the grill. In a small bowl, stir the mayonnaise and barbecue sauce together. When the burgers are done, top them with the mayonnaise sauce, lettuce, and tomatoes and serve on the toasted rolls.
Calories – 270
Carbs – 25 g
Fat- 4 g, 1 g saturated
Protein – 32 g
Fiber – 2 g
Turkey In My Salad – You could also chop up the turkey burger and toss it in a nice salad with low fat dressing.
Alternative Dressing Options – Consider any of your favorite dressings instead of the mayo and BBQ sauce. I recommend reduced fat ranch. Never tried blue cheese on a turk burger, but it might be worth a taste.
Tuna is an athlete’s best friend. What else can you whip up in a matter of 15 seconds, which provides the benefits of fish with 0 carbs and 1 gram of fat? This easy cookin’ tuna burger has a touch of lemon with a spicy kick. Add in the breadcrumbs if you don’t care about the carbs or if you just want the burger to be a little heartier.
1 can drained, solid white albacore tuna
2 small egg whites or 1 jumbo egg white
a squirt of lemon juice or a dash of lemon-pepper seasoning
1 tablespoon crushed red pepper
Mix all ingredients together in small bowl. Form two patties and cook on a non-stick pan sprayed with non-stick cooking spray like PAM until tuna patties are slightly browned. Served on top of a small salad, on a whole wheat bun, or on whole wheat bread. Serves two regular athletes or one hungry powerlifter.
Optional Upgrades:
The McTuna Meal: serve with oven-baked steak fries, a touch of ketchup, and a super-size Diet Coke. =P
Extra Hearty Tuna Burger: make the burgers with 1 tablespoon of bread crumbs.
Cheesy Fish Burger: either slap a piece of 2% cheese on there, or sprinkle on some shredded cheddar.
Nutritional Information Per Serving:
Calories- 205
Carbs- 5g
Protein- 28g
Fat- 7g
Choose Project Swole recommended Optimum Nutrition protein powder.
Optimum Nutrition protein powder comes in about 20 different flavors, and is available in 1 lb, 2 lb, 5 lb, and 10 lb containers. Click here to order.
Almost all nutritious food has fat in it. Fats are used for a variety of purposes including transporting vital nutrients to cells, assisting in digestion of certain foods, and providing us with energy in times of nutrient depletion. To be healthy you can’t, and shouldn’t, stay away from fat. Still we find ourselves asking: how much fat should I eat in a day? What are the pros and cons of eating low-fat or fat-free? What kind of fat should I be eating most? Which foods provide healthy fats and which foods will kill me quickly?
As with my other articles how many carbs to eat in a day and how much protein to eat in a day, it all depends on a couple factors:
The American Heart Association recommends limiting dietary fat to 30% of total calories. Take into consideration however, if you are overweight, need to lower blood cholesterol, or have another medical concern, you may need less than the recommended 30%.
Fats are vital to many of the body’s primary functions, specifically digestion and nutrient absorption. The main form of fat found in food and also found in the body, makes up most of the body’s stored energy. You may have heard of these type of fats before, we call them triglycerides. When your body is at rest or performing activity of a low intensity, it generates most of its energy from free fatty acids, which are released from the body’s stores of triglycerides.
The calories in fat molecules (9 calories per gram) provide more than twice as much energy as carbs and protein (4 calories per gram). This is especially true in a glycogen depleted state, in which the body turns to fat for nearly all of its energy.
Lipids (fats) in foods transport fat-soluble vitamins to the intestines. This facilitates the absorption of of many vital nutrients such as A ,D, E and K. You risk developing deficiencies for some of these nutrients without an adequate amount of fat in your diet.
Eating foods that are high in fat helps us moderate our appetite through two means:
You might find yourself faced with increased hunger when your intake of calories from fat is reduced below 20% of total caloric intake.
Omega-3s and Omega-6s, the essential fatty acids, need to be ingested as part of the diet, as they cannot be manufactured within the body. These nutrients are the essential building blocks of compounds and molecules that are responsible for performing vital bodily functions such as helping blood to clot, immune system response, and blood pressure regulation. In women, the essential fatty acids also aid in healthy childbirth. The essential fatty acids can be found in foods containing soybean or canola oil, as well as in sardines, tuna, and salmon.
We also need to be aware that when fat is removed from most foods, the food manufacturers usually add carbohydrates in order to perserve a desirable taste and texture. Typically these carbohydrates are the worst kind of carbs for your body as they are mostly high-glycemic, processed refined sugars. Many low-fat and fat-free products remain energy dense for just this reason, since they still contain a high concentration of calories from carbohydrates rather than fat. I rant about low-fat and fat-free foods in another article.
We always need to remember that the source of our calories counts. Whether they come from fat, protein, or carbs we always need to be sure to use moderation when choosing portion sizes, even when eating fat-reduced foods. By now everyone is aware that the increasing variety of lower fat items is directly proportional to the American publics average weight going up, up, up. As I mentioned in my article about the hidden dangers of “healthy” foods, eating reduced fat or fat free is not the solution for weight loss. In fact, eating too many of these foods over the course of our childhood, teenage, and young adult years, can often lead to nasty diseases such as adult-onset type II diabetes.
The answer is simple: you shouldn’t. The folks that should really stay away from fat the most are those with high cholesterol, and even then, they should be sure to consume the proper ratio and amounts of Omega-6 and Omega-3 fatty acids to stay healthy. If you have been told by your doctor that you need to reduce cholesterol, you should attempt to stay away from pork, beef, and eggs. Also check labels often for cholesterol content, because something like a salad dressing might contain more cholesterol than you think.
If you are extremely overweight, you will probably want to go easy on the fat only because it is so calorie dense. But in the same respect, if you are willing to bring your carbohydrate intake under 100 grams per day, then you should replace those lost carbs with protein and healthy fats.
During the day you will probably want to stay away from fat late at night, and anytime near or around a workout. You want glycogen to be readily available, so you won’t want slow down digestion by consuming fat before or during a workout. Doing so would also steal blood away from your extremities to send to the stomach to assist with digestion. It may sound petty, but every little bit counts. You also want to get fat-free glycogen back into the muscles ASAP after training. Therefore your post workout shake should contain 0 grams of fat if possible. As usual, I recommend Biotest Surge as a post-workout drink.
In conclusion we can say that fat is good. Deriving 30-40% of your daily calories from fat is acceptable. Try to eat healthy fats from fruits, veggies, fish, eggs, nuts, and canola/soybean/olive oil. Minimize trans fats and saturated fats, making sure not to eat fats that are solid at room temperature like butter and animal fat. Try not to cook with fat either, since cooking healthy fats actually makes them unhealthy fats.
Eating a lower calorie, higher protein, higher healthy fat, lower carb kind of diet is one sure way to stay healthy and lose some weight. This is the type of lifestyle that can be permanent and effective!
See also:
How many grams of carbs should I eat?
How many grams of protein should I eat?
Choose Project Swole recommended Optimum Nutrition protein powder.
Optimum Nutrition protein powder comes in about 20 different flavors, and is available in 1 lb, 2 lb, 5 lb, and 10 lb containers. Click here to order.
Choose Project Swole recommended Optimum Nutrition protein powder.
Optimum Nutrition protein powder comes in about 20 different flavors, and is available in 1 lb, 2 lb, 5 lb, and 10 lb containers. Click here to order.
Everyone eats carbohydrates. You pretty much can’t get around it. We need carbs for energy after all.
But the questions still remain: how many carbs should I eat in a day?
The Best Protein Powder |
Are there drawbacks from eat too little or too many carbs?
What are the side effects of eating carbs or abstaining from eating carbs?
Well once again, as with protein, it depends on what you do on a daily basis. Furthermore, ingestion of carbs should be focused more around the question:
WHEN should I eat carbs during the day?
As with how much fat to eat in a day and how much protein to eat in a day, it all depends on a couple factors:
The most recent Dietary Guidelines for Americans, as stated by the Department of Health and Human Services, suggest that roughly 50% of your daily calories come from carbs. Thus, a person who eats approximately 2,500 calories per day should take in about about 300 grams of carbs. This number is not altogether bad for the average American, but we have to take into consideration the sources of those carbs.
These are the kinds of carbs to avoid at all costs:
These foods offer virtually no nutritional value, and they contain far too many calories. Some of these foods also contain saturated and trans-fats that are bad for your heart, and sugary foods can lead to such maladies as type II diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Specifically if you are already insulin resistant, you should avoid these bad carbs as they will just ruin your day by making you tired, slow, dumb, and hungry.
Instead choose these kinds of carbs:
People that exercise with high intensity or with prolonged endurance, can benefit from a high carbohydrate intake before exercise. It is feasible to consume a high carbohydrate meal before a marathon, or a moderately high carbohydrate meal before lifting weights or martial arts training. It is not a good idea to consume too many carbs in one sitting, but 50 grams is not out of the question if you are preparing for a physically draining event.
During and after exercise is also a key time to consume carbs. In fact this is the only time it is recommended to consume sugary carbs. I tend to sip on Gatorade during a workout and my post-workout drink contains about 40 grams of carbs in the form of dextrose. If allowed to choose, I would choose Biotest Surge as my post-workout drink of choice. This is a product that is specially formulated to replenish lost glycogen stores and restart protein synthesis after a demanding workout.
There is no need to eat carbohydrates at night. Ever. Some folks believe in consuming a high-carb meal the night before an event like a marathon, but I just don’t see it. I would say eat that meal in the morning if the event is in the late morning or early afternoon. The best time for a high carbohydrate meal is in the morning, when your body is prepared to uptake glycogen for energy for the day. Lunch should be a moderate carb meal as you don’t want to get that ‘bonk’ feeling in the middle of the afternoon. Also consider that if you don’t plan to exercise during the day then there’s really no need to gulp down many carbs at any point in the day.
If you are on a fat loss diet, then there’s definitely no need to eat more than 100 grams of carbs in any one day. I don’t necessarily support Atkins, but there are valid points to that diet. When I am in the middle of a hardcore cutting phase, trying to get as lean as possible in a given time frame, I will only consume 20-30 grams of low glycemic index carbs for breakfast.
For lunch I will try to avoid most carbs, opting for whole grain bread or a salad if necessary. My pre-workout drink is typically 1/2 a serving of Biotest Surge, I sip on Gatorade during the workout, then finish off with 1 serving of Biotest Surge after the workout. On non-workout days, I skip all of that and choose a protein bar, cheese, or a meat snack instead.
Dinner is always low carb during a diet. Soup, meat and vegetables, and salad are all great choices for low carb dinners. Appropriate snacks are meats, cheeses, protein bars or shakes, veggies, and other super-low carb foods. Typically in the midst of a diet phase, I eat around 75 grams of carbs on a non-workout day, and maybe 120-140 grams of carbs on a workout day.
The Best Protein Powder |
In conclusion, I recommend that if you are moderately active, you should derive maybe 30% of your daily calories from carbs. Sure, my opinion differs from specialist government agencies, but that’s only because I have seen low carb diets work. I have also seen Americans grow obese and suffer from a long list of carbohydrate induced diseases.
A 200 lb man on a 2500 calorie diet would probably eat maybe 180 grams of carbs in a day, all from unprocessed whole food sources. A 140 lb woman on a 1500 calorie diet might only eat 100 grams of carbs in a day.
Someone on a strict diet might limit themselves to 50 grams of carbohydrates a day regardless of sex or weight. Just remember to avoid those nasty sugary processed carbs so that you can stay healthy, avoiding energy crashes and adult-onset type II diabetes.
See also:
How many grams of fat should I eat?
How many grams of protein should I eat?
Choose Project Swole recommended Optimum Nutrition protein powder.
Optimum Nutrition protein powder comes in about 20 different flavors, and is available in 1 lb, 2 lb, 5 lb, and 10 lb containers. Click here to order.
The desire to consume chocolate at times overcomes even the strongest of us. When that cocoa aroma penetrates your senses and the drool starts to form at the corners of your mouth, you feel that there is no place to run… no place to hide… from the chocolate. OK, so maybe this isn’t you, but even so everyone can use a tasty protein bar at times. This one is for all the chocolate lovers out there.
1 square of unsweetened baking chocolate
3 scoops (1 cup) chocolate protein powder of your choice, I prefer Biotest Metabolic Drive Super Protein Shake (aka “M”)
2 tbsp heavy cream
2 tbsp butter
3 packets or 1/8 cup of Splenda
2 tbsp sugar free or low sugar syrup, or maple syrup, or you can even just use water instead
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut
1 cup chopped nuts, I prefer either peanuts, pecans, or almonds
Melt the baking chocolate and the butter in the microwave for 1 minute, stirring until melted. Add Splenda and heavy cream, stirring until creamy. Next, add protein powder, nuts, and coconut, stirring until everything is coated evenly. Add syrup or water, mixing thoroughly. At this point the mixture may become very stiff. You should knead it like dough until the mixture is uniform throughout. Finally, line a bread loaf pan with plastic wrap and press the mixture into the pan firmly and evenly. Chill until very firm. The recipe can be cut into 6 bars or servings.
Nutrition Information
Approximately 170 calories from 5g carbs, 15g protein, and somewhere around 10g of fat per bar.
Also try adding all natural peanut butter to give it an additional nutty flavor. Keep milk on hand during consumption.
Scivation XtendAmino Acids |
Optimum Nutrition Protein Powder |
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