my favorite high-protein entrée: Asian-Moroccan Ground Turkey Stir-Fry
Posted on July 19, 2018 Leave a Comment
This is one of my favorite dishes. It’s low-calorie, high-protein, low-fat, full of lots of vegetables, low in carbs, dairy-free, sugar-free, gluten-free, and totally tasty! It’s easy to prepare too; just throw everything in the fry pan, and the leftovers taste just as good reheated in the microwave.
I typically add maple syrup, but I wanted to achieve the same balance of sweetness with whole foods, so I added chopped red onion and carrots, and a little bit of cinnamon. The coconut aminos give it additional sweetness with a Asian-Hawaiian flair. I went bold and added powdered ginger and turmeric, which turned out to be a wonderful Asian-Moroccan combination, that, somehow, works beautifully. The cilantro adds freshness and the toasted cashews give it the finishing decadent crunch.
Asian-Moroccan Ground Turkey Stir-Fry
- 1-lb lean ground turkey breast (you can use ground turkey, but that has more fat)
- Small green cabbage, washed and thinly sliced
- 1 yellow onion, thinly sliced
- ¼ red onion, peeled and chopped
- 2 carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
- ½ tsp ground black pepper
- ½ tsp powdered ginger
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp chili powder
- ½ tsp mustard powder
- ½ tsp ground turmeric
- ½ tsp ground fennel
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp red chili flakes
- ¼ tsp sea salt
- ¼ cup coconut aminos
- 2 tsps sesame oil
- Bunch of chives, chopped
- ¼ cup cilantro, chopped
Optional toppings:
- Roasted salted cashews, roasted salted peanuts, or sesame seeds
- Sriracha sauce
Directions: Put the ground turkey in a large heated fry-pan on medium-high heat, and chop, browning the turkey (don’t add any oil). When the pan is really hot and looks like it going to smoke, add the cabbage, onions and carrots. Keep moving the ingredients with a spatula, breaking up any large pieces of turkey, and incorporating the vegetables into the meat. Cover to steam the vegetables, which brings out the moisture, and cooks all the ingredients. Alternate, stirring the vegetables and covering them every two minutes until all the meat is cooked (there should be no pink) and the vegetables are soft (but not mushy). Add the spices and coconut aminos. Stir and cook another two minutes. Take off the heat element, add sesame oil, chives and cilantro. Stir again so all the ingredients are combined.
To serve, place a few tablespoons on a plate, and top with a splash or two of coconut aminos, a little bit of sriracha sauce, and a tablespoon of roasted salted cashews.
Serves 6
For over 40 of my favorite tried-and-true dairy-free recipes found in my cookbook, go to http://www.thehighfivediet.com
It might not be belly fat. It could be inflammation. How to counter it.
Posted on July 17, 2018 Leave a Comment
We may not realize we have chronic low-grade inflammation, but certainly an inability to lose bodyfat can be one sign. While everyone responds to foods differently, there’s certain foods everyone should avoid.
Avoid:
- Sugar
- Dairy
- Wheat & gluten
- Foods with chemicals (which is why I try to always buy certified organic items)
Other foods cause issues for some people, but not others. If you’ve eliminated all of the above items from your diet and still have weight or digestive issues (even after using probiotics), try removing some or all of the items below:
Foods to limit or avoid:
- Grains
- Beans
- Soy
- Corn
- Peanuts
- Pineapple
- Fatty meats
If a food doesn’t make you feel good, no matter if it’s on this list or not, don’t eat it. I have issues with all of the foods on the “avoid” list, and some issues with foods on the “limit or avoid” list. For instance: sugar makes my joints hurt. Dairy makes me have an immediate anaphylactic response. Wheat and gluten makes me feel uncomfortably full. Non-organic compounds bothers my stomach, and makes my throat swell. Pineapple makes my throat hurt, and fatty meats make me feel like I’m going to have a heart attack.
Completely changing the way you eat is really hard, stressful, and not always the best method. Try your best to stick to eliminating the foods on the “avoid” list for a full 30-days. If you feel good after 30 days and that excess fat is starting to melt away, stay with it; but if you don’t feel 100% and/or that stubborn fat isn’t budging even after cutting back calories, you might want to avoid some or all of the items on the 2nd list.
P.S. You can buy sprouted grains, and soak beans before eliminating grains and beans to see if that helps you.
P.P.S. I’m currently trying to limit my peanut consumption, but this one is really hard for me because I LOVE peanuts.
NutraGen Plant protein review
Posted on July 12, 2018 Leave a Comment
At the gym, I got a free sample of Nutragen’s Pure Plant chocolate and vanilla protein powders. What I like is that it’s certified organic, vegan, and it doesn’t have rice (since rice has naturally occurring arsenic). What I didn’t like is that it has sugar, in the form of coconut sugar (it’s still sugar), and it’s high in calories.
I blended the chocolate flavor with 1 ½ frozen bananas, and one cup of water. It tasted chalky and the sweetness from the monk fruit was overwhelming and unpleasant. I added one level teaspoon of coco powder and some raspberries to balance the sweetness, which helped, but it wasn’t a smoothie I’d ever want to drink again. It’s 130 calories, which is on the high-side, and just 3 grams of carbs which is nice and low.
The following day, I blended the vanilla flavor with 1 frozen banana and one cup of water. The final product was a very thin consistency (I should have used coconut milk instead of water), with an unpleasant synthetic vanilla flavor, and the sweetness from too much monk fruit was intolerable. I added a few large frozen strawberries, and blended it again, which improved the taste of my smoothie, but the overall flavor and texture gives this protein powder a big thumbs-down. This is one of the worst flavors of protein powders I have tried. It’s also ridiculously high in calories at a whopping 145 for 21 grams of protein. A protein powder should be around 100 calories, unless you’re trying to bulk and gain weight.
There’s better tasting vegan protein powders out there that have fewer calories. My favorite to date is the from the brand Tone it Up which I get from Target.
Here’s the link if you want to try it, but after reading my review, I’m doubting you want to: https://www.amazon.com/Pure-Plant-Protein-Powder-Vegan/dp/B00ZB3BG0Y/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_2_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1530055492&sr=8-2-fkmr0&keywords=nutragen+pure+plant+protein+vanilla
P.S. Take a look at my website product page and take a peek at www.thehighfivediet.com
get more protein without eating more of it
Posted on July 10, 2018 Leave a Comment
Seems like everyone is trying to eat more protein to build muscle and to get lean, but more protein means more calories. And if you’re getting your protein from animal sources, that means additional saturated fat and cholesterol. For someone eating a low-calorie, vegan diet, getting enough protein can be a challenge. A probiotic, BC30, helps absorb and utilize protein; it might even reduce muscle damage and increase recovery (1).
- Source: Runestad, Todd. “The Pros of Probiotics. 6 Health Benefits of Probiotics Beyond Digestion.” Delicious Living. June 2017. Pages 37, 39. Print.
Mediterranean Diet isn’t always healthy
Posted on July 5, 2018 Leave a Comment
We’ve been told the Mediterranean Diet is healthy and that we should all try to follow this diet, but it’s actually unhealthy if people aren’t eating quality olive oil, are consuming too much olive oil (regardless of quality), if the food contains pesticides, if people aren’t eating whole grains, and/or are consuming too many calories (1). This study, from the Italian Research Institute IRCCS Istituto Neurologico Mediterraneo Neuromed, of 18,000 people from southern Italy from 3/2005 to 4/2010 also showed that those who ate more fish and drank a moderate amount of alcohol were the healthiest of the bunch (1).
P.S. The recent revelation in the news about a flawed Mediterranean study’s results being retracted, was a different study (not the one mentioned above) in Spain with only 7447 people. The results from that study revealed that a Med Diet reduces heart disease. Even though that study had quality-control issues, it is still generally recognized that a Med Diet is good for heart health (2).
Sources: (1) Scutti, Susan. “The Mediterranean Diet Doesn’t Benefit Everyone.” CNN. Cable News Network, 01 Aug. 2017. Web. 19 June 2018. https://www.cnn.com/2017/07/31/health/mediterranean-diet-heart-benefits-socioeconomic-study/index.html
(2) Kolata, Gina. “That Huge Mediterranean Diet Study Was Flawed, but Was It Wrong?” The New York Times [New York] 13 June 2018, Health sec.: n. pag. Print.
add’l sources:
(3) https://www.pritikin.com/mediterranean-diet-healthy
(4) https://nutritionfacts.org/2018/02/06/how-healthy-is-the-mediterranean-diet/
Your diet is working, but this is why you need to change it.
Posted on July 3, 2018 Leave a Comment
Since I have a certification in fitness nutrition, and published a diet book, and a healthy dessert cookbook, people tell me what they eat, or what their diets consist of. Just because a diet is working, i.e. they are losing weight, and maybe their cholesterol and blood sugar is down, doesn’t mean their diet is healthy. Whenever calories are reduced, weight loss and numbers typically go down, but being healthy is more than just pant size and scores.
A certified fitness trainer told me about her high protein, low-calorie, low-carb diet. She gave me the amount of calories, total number of carbs, and total grams of protein she was told to eat on her new diet to see what I thought about it; I was shocked, because the proportions were totally out of whack. For her size, the protein (all from animal sources) was much too high, and the amount of carbs was much too low. I told her that much protein will increase her cholesterol, and tax her kidneys. I suggested she lower total overall protein, and to make sure some of that protein was from non-animal sources.
The amount of carbohydrates she was told to eat was also off; it was way too low for the type and amount of exercise she did daily. Extremely low carbs, usually means low energy since food is fuel. After a few months on that high-protein, low-carb diet, she looked leaner. She lost body fat and people were complementing her, but she felt terrible. Sometimes she had so little energy, that she couldn’t exercise at all. Her weight loss stopped too. She went to the doctor and was diagnosed with extremely high cholesterol, and was told that her kidneys were not functioning as well as they could. She finally stopped eating so much animal protein, cut out red meat, and increased her carbs, but it took a doctor’s lab work before she made the changes.
A bodybuilder with bodyfat in the single digits, (that’s really low, which is why he has an 8-pack) told me that he eats ground beef, rice, ice cream, milk and chicken breast, that’s it. While he looks really fit and healthy, he admitted that he has to take energy drinks to get through his day, and fiber in order to have a bowel movement. I told him he needs to swap out the rice and dairy with fruit and vegetables instead, but he’s sticking to his diet because it’s “working.”
Your diet is NOT working if you are tired, grumpy, hungry all the time, have trouble sleeping, are breaking out with blemishes, and/or are constipated. A good weight-loss diet doesn’t require supplements, energy drinks, fat burners, or fiber pills. You shouldn’t eat the same foods every day. A diet shouldn’t be limiting, and should include a rainbow of fruits and vegetables.
My seemingly endless amounts of energy isn’t hereditary, neither is my clear skin (I don’t even wear foundation). I have lots of energy, and my skin is clear because I eat fruit and vegetables every day, sleep 7-8 hours each night, and am always trying new recipes with different ingredients.
Diets have a negative connotation because there are so many terrible ones out there, but you don’t need to starve yourself, or eat a restrictive diet to lose weight. Nutritional deficiencies from inadequate diets cause disease. Just because a diet is working, doesn’t mean it will keep you healthy.
P.S. For my diet plan, my favorite recipes, and everything you need to know about nutrition for healthy, sustained weight-loss, order your copy of my paperback book from www.thehighfivediet.com
Photo: me
Vegan Peanut Butter Protein Review
Posted on June 28, 2018 Leave a Comment
I love peanut butter, but, like all nut butters, it has a lot of calories for such a small portion (2 tablespoons is 180 calories). Tone it Up has a vegan peanut butter protein powder, with 90 calories, 15 grams of protein from peas, and pumpkin seeds; with just 2 grams of net carbs. It doesn’t contain sugar, rice, dairy, stevia, or sugar alcohols. The sweetness comes from Monk fruit extract. They didn’t have a sample, so I bought the tub at Target.
I added the scoop of protein powder to one cup of coconut milk and one frozen banana. The texture was grainy, and the peanut butter flavor was subtle and overly sweet. I tried it the next day with one cup of cold water, and one frozen banana; it tasted much better, but the sandy texture was still noticeable. The third day I added ice, a few drops of lemon juice and a teaspoon of tahini, and it tasted delicious.
Target Stores sell Tone It Up Vegan protein powder in tubs for $22.99 for 14 servings. Since the smoothies are thick, you can save money and calories by omitting milk. The cheapest store to buy Tone It Up protein powder is at Target for $22.99. Amazon sells the same one for $38!
P.S. If you are looking for carb-controlled, whole-food, vegan smoothies, check out my cookbooks: Slimming Dairy-Free Smoothies & Desserts, and The High-Five Diet at https://www.thehighfivediet.com/products.html
Why I don’t eat ground turkey anymore
Posted on June 26, 2018 Leave a Comment
I love ground turkey, and I know it has more fat and calories than ground turkey breast, so I was shocked to learn that the difference between the two is 200 calories for 16 ounces. If I eat ground turkey at every meal, which I sometimes do, I’m going over my calorie budget by at least 200 calories. Even though 200 calories is not a lot, that would be one explanation for not being able to lose bodyfat.
There’s even a more stark contrast in calories and fat between chicken breast meat and chicken thigh meat. There’s 357 more calories in one pound of chicken thighs, compared to chicken breast. Even if you have one, four-ounce serving of chicken thighs, that’s 89 calories more than chicken breast.
Calories add up fast, and those small additions are typically the reason the weight won’t come off, or why people continue to gain weight. More protein intake can mean more bodyfat because excess calories turn into fat. Choose lean proteins every time, and weigh and/or measure all your food. In general women should aim for 3 ounces of lean protein with every meal (but most people eat much more), and men should have a goal of 4 ounces of lean protein with every meal. Protein comes in many forms, like grains, nuts, seeds, and beans so keep that in mind too.
Photo: Ground turkey with green olives and zucchini noodles. Now I make this dish with ground turkey breast. The trick to make it taste just as good, is to add more spices.
Source: MyFitnessPal
two types of probiotic pills for fat loss
Posted on June 21, 2018 Leave a Comment
Could there actually be a non-toxic pill that allows you to lose bodyfat safely? “A….probiotic strain, called Lactobacillus gasseri SBT2055, makes sure the body excretes fat…” A small study, with this strain…found that 5 billion CFUs a day for just one week reduced belly fat and promoted weight loss.” In another study, 10 billion CFUs of a different probiotic strain called B. lactis 420 (B420), reduced caloric intake, body fat and waist size in overweight adults. After six months, they lost three pounds and reduced their waist size by one inch.
Because of these findings, we will probably be seeing a lot more probiotics with one of these strains, with the label listing it as a weight loss probiotic.
Here’s two probiotics I found with one of these strains:
Sources:
Runestad, Todd. “The Pros of Probiotics. 6 Health Benefits of Probiotics Beyond Digestion.” Delicious Living. June 2017. Pages 37, 39. Print.
“Lactobacillus gasseri SBT2055 suppresses fatty acid release through enlargement of fat emulsion size in vitro and promotes fecal fat excretion in healthy Japanese subjects.” US National Library of Medicine. National Institutes of Health. 20, Mar 2015. Blog. Retrieved 12, Jun 2018 from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4391304/
Non-toxic self-tanner
Posted on June 19, 2018 Leave a Comment
I stopped letting my face get any sunrays because I don’t want wrinkles or sunspots, but I love the look of a bronze glow. I also stopped wearing foundation and blush because, no matter what brand I tried, my skin would break out. I also stopped going to automated spray tanning salons, since it was impossible not to inhale the airborne particles. I have tried custom spray tans by a professional, but at $50 a pop, that adds up.
So, I’ve been using True Natural Self-Tan lotion, and the end result is a very natural looking bronze tan. For my fair skin, I use their Dark Color, Vanilla Coconut, but I use that only on my body, because it makes my face breakout. Since my skin is so sensitive, I use their face tanner, Facial Moisturizer, which goes on smoothly and evenly. It doesn’t streak, is easy to apply, and looks like a real sun tan.
They are both stinky, but all tanning products I’ve tried have an unpleasant scent. Maybe it’s the active ingredient(s) that make it smell weird. The True Natural brand scent fades after your first shower, and the smell is almost unnoticable after 48 hours.
If you’re looking for a creamy self-tanner that works well, looks natural, lasts about a week, and is certified organic, give these a try. The body lotion bottle lasts me 6-8 weeks, and the facial tanner lasts me about three months, so don’t freak out about the small size.
Here’s their website (but you can get their products on Amazon too): https://www.truenatural.com/true-natural.html
