Paleo Phil, Mickelson Wins at Weight Loss

Most people watching yesterday’s final round of the British Open were likely focused on who would win the Claret Jug (or is it mug). I watched, and although it was as exciting as golf can be, I wasn’t fixated on the jug/mug. Two topics were more interesting to me. The first was that these athletes breaking records and duking it out were both in their forties. And second, Phil trimmed down.

It turns out Phil has gone Paleo and upped his fitness game and, as a result, he’s dropped 25-ish pounds (over 2 stones). I’m not sure that Phil got the idea from Lebron. It’s not as though Lebron started the paleo diet but of course “Phil lost weight following the Lebron diet” was a headline I came across more than once. Lebron was hardcore paleo for 67 days. This means their diets consisted of fruit, vegetables, protein, nuts and limited carbs (no dairy, no grains/gluten/sugar).

For me, it’s one thing for average people to pursue paleo but quite a shift from old-school “carbing up” for athletes to do it. A part of paleo I wholeheartedly endorse is the concern with better-sourced ingredients (grass-fed meat, wild fish etc.). I’m off to the beach in 10 days so I’ll give Mickelson credit and say I’ll be loosely following the Phil Plan.

Do you watch golf (it’s ok to admit it)? Did you notice Phil looked more fit? What do you think of paleo?

Ice Cream Diet

You may know, from our newsletter this morning, that we had a Foodtrainers’ ice cream crawl.  We went around the city taste testing. Sure, we tried to balance things out by walking from place to place (next year we’re going to run) but we know how that math works. We summarized our favorite pops and shops in the newsletter but we had so much information it didn’t all fit.

Raspberry Nice Cream

This recipe may not seem groundbreaking on paper but my sons (including the teenager), babysitter and husband all loved this.

Ingredients:

2 bananas on the riper side

1 container organic raspberries

couple tablespoons water (if needed)

and stevia optional (I used NuStevia)

Freeze bananas and a container (6oz) of organic raspberries.

Add bananas to food processor or high-powered blender (I used Vitamix).

At first they will splinter and you may feel it’s not working, keep going

Blend until creamy.

Add berries to the blender, you may need a tablespoon or two of water and I added a few drops of new stevia.

If using a Vitamix you need the plunger thingy and a little elbow grease.

Makes 2 nice-sized servings. You can freeze leftovers but you’ll need to thaw a bit to get smooth/soft-serve texture.

Konery

When we were at Victory Garden (home of our ice cream champion Sesame Mucho Miso Sundae) we were introduced to the Konery’s gluten-free cones. As someone who is gluten free, ice cream cones have been a thing of the past. We tried their gluten-free cardamom cone…yum. Konery sells boxes of the glutenfree goodies.

I scream, you scream, we are definitely screaming after all the “healthier” ice cream we’ve tasted…but enjoyed every bite.

What are your favorite healthy-ish frozen treats?

Ice Cream Diet

You may know, from our newsletter this morning, that we had a Foodtrainers’ ice cream crawl.  We went around the city taste testing. Sure, we tried to balance things out by walking from place to place (next year we’re going to run) but we know how that math works. We summarized our favorite pops and shops in the newsletter but we had so much information it didn’t all fit.

Raspberry Nice Cream

This recipe may not seem groundbreaking on paper but my sons (including the teenager), babysitter and husband all loved this.

Ingredients:

2 bananas on the riper side

1 container organic raspberries

couple tablespoons water (if needed)

and stevia optional (I used NuStevia)

Freeze bananas and a container (6oz) of organic raspberries.

Add bananas to food processor or high-powered blender (I used Vitamix).

At first they will splinter and you may feel it’s not working, keep going

Blend until creamy.

Add berries to the blender, you may need a tablespoon or two of water and I added a few drops of new stevia.

If using a Vitamix you need the plunger thingy and a little elbow grease.

Makes 2 nice-sized servings. You can freeze leftovers but you’ll need to thaw a bit to get smooth/soft-serve texture.

Konery

When we were at Victory Garden (home of our ice cream champion Sesame Mucho Miso Sundae) we were introduced to the Konery’s gluten-free cones. As someone who is gluten free, ice cream cones have been a thing of the past. We tried their gluten-free cardamom cone…yum. Konery sells boxes of the glutenfree goodies.

I scream, you scream, we are definitely screaming after all the “healthier” ice cream we’ve tasted…but enjoyed every bite.

What are your favorite healthy-ish frozen treats?

Check food labels for an ingredient that can harm health and weight

There are certain ingredients many of you could identify as unhealthy. Artificial sweeteners, trans fats, BPAs and GMOs are likely on your radar.  However, a study in Nature raised health and weight concerns for a group of ingredients you may not even know about. Do emulsifiers ring a bell? I’ll be totally honest, I had to think back to Food Science classes…mayo is an emulsification. Without nerding out emulsifications are mixtures where one substance is suspended in another.

In mayo, the egg emulsify or combine things.

But egg yolks are natural emulsifiers, this recent study (and a couple prior) honed in on chemical emulsifiers. These additives are used in many products for texture and to extend shelf life.

I talk a lot about probiotics; kombucha, kefir, miso and apple cider vinegar are Foodtrainers’ staples.  Having more good bacteria can improve our mood, immunity and weight. But what if something prevalent in healthy food is harming gut bacteria? Yup, that’s what these chemical emulsifiers do and the net effect they have on out gut results in impaired satiety signals. When you are less satisfied you eat more. We do not need any assistance in the “eat more” department.

So what are these emulsifiers called? There are a ton of chemical emulsifiers- many have the word “gum” in the name.  The two emulsifiers tested in this study were

polysorbate 80  and carboxymethylcellulose. You will sometimes see polysorbate 80 called “tween 80” and the other one is abbreviated CMC or listed as cellulose gum.

Look for “tween” in ice cream, puddings, vitamins, chewing gum and condiments

Cellulose gum in used in  lowfat cookies, and jelly. What’s really sneaky is cellulose is listed as a fiber but this is not a good fiber.

In the study, these emulsifiers were given to rats with a compromised GI system and previously healthy rats. The rats with preexisting GI issues developed full blown colits and the “normal” rats gained weight. Some studies test amounts that far exceed what is typically consumed…not this time. These effects were seen with commonly consumed quantities. I’d like to take a moment to say…FDA seriously? You’ve deemed these safe? Let’s reexamine your testing methods.

In all fairness, only two emulsifiers (or gums) were tested. It is unclear if all emulsifiers have the same issues associated with them. The only emulsifier on my radar, prior to reading this, was carrageenan. Carrageenan has received a ton of bad PR. It has has been a concern as it has GI side effects (upsets your stomach) and because it’s a possible carcinogen. Perhaps the GI side effects occur because carrageenan acts like Tween and Cellulose gum messing with our good bacteria?

A lot of the coverage of this study talked about the prevalence of chemical emulsifiers in processed foods. If you aren’t big on processed foods don’t be relieved as these thickeners are also used in dairy free and gluten free foods. And we all blame sugar for increasing obesity rates following the fat free phase/ 90s…however, chemical emulsifiers are found in most “fat free” foods too. I examined the labels in our fridge and found two items with gums in them. Our gluten free bread had xanthan gum and organic cream cheese had “organic” locust bean gum. I reached out to the bread company and the owner told me she wasn’t concerned as the bread was one of the only sources of gums in her diet. I’m not sure I agree and urged her to look at the study.

What should you do? Look at the ingredients on packages in your pantry and fridge. If you see cellulose gum OR tween 80…I’d certainly toss those. I’d also encourage you to contact companies using these ingredients. Carageenan has been pulled from many products as a result of customer concern. Further studies need to test other gums so that we can assess their safety. One more vote against ingredients we cannot pronounce.

Have emulsifiers been on your radar? Any products you consume that have gums in them? Will you avoid them going forward?

I whipped myself

You may have read about our Whipping Week we launched for the New Year. Clients have been "whipped" in our offices and via our Foodstalking program people are getting a virtual whipping in Chicago, Texas and Florida. See what happened when Carolyn (@onesmartbrownie) whipped herself.

For the most part, I am fine with my vices and believe you should love what you eat and drink. But after a little too much “love” over the holidays it was time to rein it in. I enjoy a challenge but have to admit I’m always hesitant to go super strict. After all, I am the girl who creates my own juice/soup cleanse rules (why would I live without coffee?).  But we launched our Whipping Week and I was ready to give it a try. And so I “whipped” myself.

If you’ve read our newsletter or blog posts, you know this entailed NO booze, NO grains, NO meat and NO dairy and limited fruit. Some people have a last supper before they start a new regime, I had to have a last “sipper”.  One flute of champagne with berries and I was ready for whipping.

And here you have a day in the life of Whipping.

Breakfast

Bulletproof-ish style coffee with a little almond milk and tsp coconut butter and blended.

 ½ cup serving of homemade chia . No fruit at breakfast was the hardest part for me, but this was all about keeping it simple.

Mid morning: Wakaya turmeric tea  

Lunch- making lunch the biggest meal of the day is a challenge for me but works best. Here is my lunch deconstructed (pink is salmon). It was more of a “dunch” or dinner for lunch as we like to call it.

Mid afternoon: our new obsession from FoodMatters, was honestly my favorite daily ritual. Bone broth (made from grassfed beef) is so warming and filling. This pic doesn’t so it justice but it’s flavored with herbs and spices and lots of ginger and is so delish.  Half a bottle and I was good to go until my (early bird) dinner.

Winner winner no chicken dinner. Dinner was basically veggie heaven, tons of vegetables, my favorite way to do this is with the spiralizer. I added a tbsp of olive oil and lots of garlic and a bit of miso too.

After dinner one of the first nights of Whipping Week I had a hot date which was now going to be hot tea (instead of a drink). I’m sure he was excited about this, nothing like mint tea to really set the mood. Luckily the man in question handled it very well and tea’d it up too. (+10 points for him).

Over a solid  Whipping days  and a whipping-ish, weekend,  I felt SO good and light My snacky tendencies and  carby/sweet extras  that had been sneaking in were nipped in the bud. Of all my workouts, I only had one less-than-stellar spin class the whole week which I blame on not drinking enough water versus whipping. So this week was really neither like 50 shades nor the hunger games, much to my delight.

Have you gotten whipped or tried our whipping tenants? Tell us how it’s going, what have been your favorite meals? Does this look difficult?

Forget Juice Cleanses Eat Bagels Instead

Paleo mini bagel with wild salmon, kale and cashew cheese, seriously?

When it comes to nutrition and exercise, I am willing to try almost anything. Weird ingredients, provided they aren’t synthetic, don’t scare me. And I’m not against the somewhat-extreme experiment either. I believe in mixing things up but there are ways I prefer to “mix”.  I’ve done juice cleanses but they don’t work best for me. They’re generally more sugar than I’m used to and as Carolyn, often my partner in cleansing, says, “we like to chew”. I have enjoyed Pure Food and Wine “not justa juice cleanse” and The Squeeze’s version; I can eat like a vegan for a few days but I do feel my best with eggs and fish in my life. Enter Food Matters.

curry roasted chicken with southwestern slaw

I cook and can plan a daily menu but sometimes I need a break from thinking and cooking and eating out and cocktails and so this week it’s been all Food Matters for me.  I’ve written about Food Matters before. I call Tricia, FM founder, a nutrition magician. It’s not only that their food is gluten free and dairy free and organic but it’s creative. I find a few days of this helps me with the following:

No more nibbles

I’m pretty organized but the few nuts or olives or samples around the office find their way into my mouth. With FM I’m eating 9am, noon (when I can wait), 3pm, and then ideally dinner early thought two nights a week are later due to my office hours. I don’t look for extras.

Protein portions

I usually say most people don’t overeat on lean protein and it’s true. On client’s lists of trigger foods where nuts and chips and cheese and sweets live, wild salmon isn’t often on there. But it is for me, I cook extra protein and I’m a protein person. Resetting my brain to see a more petite portion is useful. You see, with our weight nothing is really “free”.

Drying out and Hydrating

I’ve mentioned this over the summer, I’m not someone who generally is out every night or drinking every night and I prefer it that way.  So this week has been “dry” but at the same time I am hydrating (I think in those moments I would usually open the fridge).

For more information on Food Matters, check out their website. Tell them we sent you (and they’ll be sure to keep things strict, ha).  And because everyone asked about the paleo bagels I posted, here is the recipe.

Are you a cleanse or food delivery person? What do you do when you try to tighten things up?