Protein — The New Marketing Buzz Word

Leave a comment
The new food marketing gimmick -- protein! Just ignore the packaging and actually eat some meat. Your body will thank you.

The new food marketing gimmick — protein! Just ignore the packaging and actually eat some meat. Your body will thank you.

Well the new food marketing buzz word is “protein.” I’m seeing it everywhere. Ugh! I pretty much ignored the “fiber” and “gluten-free” craze, but this is just outright annoying. When I saw a box of Cheerios Protein on my grocery store shelf, I lost it. At first I rolled my eyes, then bust out laughing, and finally I ended up ticked off.

Wall Street Journal (subscription required) writes about this latest marketing gimmick. You see the word “protein” has the “halo effect.” We all understand we need protein. It’s good for you.

Food companies know you need protein. So they simply add some protein, repackage their crappy products with the word “protein” prominently displayed and bingo!  People lap it up.

And guess what? We fall for this over and over again. If the box says protein, we assume it is not only healthy for us, but gives us energy and feel satisfied.

Cheerios Protein lists 40g of carbs per serving. You are much better off eating 4 ounces of chicken, beef, lamb or pork than this processed junk.

Cheerios Protein lists 40g of carbs per serving. You are much better off eating 4 ounces of chicken, beef, lamb or pork than this processed junk.

Of course, when you actually read the label on your box of Cheerios Protein, you’ll discover that your eating 40g of carbs, 16g of sugar and 21g of mystery carbs in a one cup serving.  Yikes! That is a big insulin spike coming your way. But hey, your getting 7g of protein. Wow!

Yet, if you eat 4 ounces of chicken, you get 35g of protein, zero carbs, and no major spike in the fat-storing hormone (a.k.a. insulin). Seems like eating meat is a smarter health choice than eating protein “spiked” processed garbage.

 

Cheesy Zucchini Tomato Bake

Leave a comment
GreenLiteBites.com is a great resource for easy to make, healthy recipes. The recent Cheesy Zucchini Tomato Bake is officially one of my favorites.

GreenLiteBites.com is a great resource for easy to make, healthy recipes. The recent Cheesy Zucchini Tomato Bake is officially one of my favorites.

If you haven’t checked out GreenLiteBites.com I suggest you do. You’ll find some great, healthy recipes that are easy to make. On Friday I made the Cheesy Zucchini Tomato Bake (the day the recipe posted…yes it sounded that awesome to me!).

How easy is this recipe to make? All you need is a large zucchini, 1-2 large tomatoes, provolone cheese, salt and some sriracha (found in Asian section of your grocery store). That’s it.  If you can’t find sriracha, try using hot sauce instead.

While I love any food with melted cheese, I have to confess the spicy kick the sriracha added made this dish soar. I served this with chicken quarters and a small side salad. Yum.

My hubby and I both loved it. As an added bonus, it’s just as tasty reheated. This is real important since veggie dishes rarely make great leftovers (I like ’em fresh).

It’s something I plan to make again, but I’m going to switch out the provolone cheese for fresh mozzarella. Why? Because I always have fresh mozzarella in my fridge…that’s just the way I roll, baby!

Wow I’m drooling just thinking about it. Hmm…maybe I’ll whip it up tonight.

A serving size equals 3g net carbs or 3 points if you are doing Weight Watchers’ PointsPlus. Obviously you can cut the Weight Watchers points by using low-fat cheese (but why do that!?!).

Check out all the awesome, healthy recipes over at greenlitebites.com.

Pork Chops With Garlic & Balsamic Vinegar Sauce

2 Comments
The garlic and balsamic vinegar sauce had a lovely tangy-sweet flavor. This easy to make sauce only adds 2g of net carbs. Awesome. And yes, that is a slab of butter on the cauliflower! I'm eating low-carb/high-fat after all.

The garlic and balsamic vinegar sauce had a lovely tangy-sweet flavor. This easy to make sauce only adds 2g of net carbs. Awesome. And yes, that is a slab of butter on the cauliflower! I’m eating low-carb/high-fat after all.

I whipped this dish up last night. Easy to make, delicious, and low carb – just the way I like it. The only mistake I made with this dish was slightly over cooking the chops. That’s a mistake I won’t make again. Thankfully they were still tasty.

The recipe comes from low-carb cookbook — 500 Low Carb Recipes by
Dana Carpender. The book’s loaded with great ideas and I plan to try a few in the coming weeks. The egg recipes especially intrigue me. Eggs are a daily staple for us, so recipes that punch them up are always welcome. Hmmmm…I’m starting to drool.

Pork Chops With Garlic & Balsamic Vinegar Sauce
Net Carbs: 2g
*Weight Watchers PointsPlus: 11
Servings: 2-3 servings

*The PointsPlus value will vary based on the weight of your pork chop. For this recipe, I assumed a pork chop that weighs 6 ounces. Adjust accordingly.
 Read More

How Does Eating Low Carb Improve Performance?

1 Comment

So what are the medical benefits of a low carb diet? In an interview with the Diet Doctor, Peter Attia discusses the benefits of low carb diets and just how low carb you can go. Attia is a medical doctor, blogger and an endurance athlete. He talks about how he gradually moved from a conventional low-fat/high-carb diet to a low-carb/high-fat/moderate protein diet.

The move happened when he couldn’t figure out why he was gaining weight (40 pounds) despite regular exercise and eating the recommended conventional diet.

In addition to conducting research and interviewing experts, he’s  experimented on himself to gain insights on the low-carb diet and its impact on physical and mental performance.

It’s an interesting interview.

 

Amazingly, Awesome Scrambled Eggs

2 Comments

Eggs are one of the most healthiest foods you can eat and a staple on this low carb gal’s breakfast table. Whether over-easy, sunny-side up, or as an omelet, eggs are just awesome. But there is one style of egg cookery that I have yet to master – scrambled.

Confession time: I’m ashamed to admit that my husband makes a superior scrambled egg than me. I couldn’t understand how that was possible and assumed he sold his soul in exchange for mastering this culinary delight.

But yesterday I discovered the true source of his scrambled egg power….a video.

I too can master the perfect scrambled egg. But I don’t dare tell the hubby I discovered his secret…otherwise he’ll expect me to start cooking them all the time.

 

Simple Start Lentil & Black Bean Chili Recipe

Leave a comment
Yum! I love chili and this easy to make Simple Start recipe hit the spot this week.

Yum! I love chili and this easy to make Simple Start recipe hit the spot this week.

I picked up this Simple Start chili recipe at my Weight Watchers meeting. I’ve stayed away from lentils and beans because of the higher carb count, but I do love them.  Since I’m doing Simple Start this week, I decided to give this Lentil and Black Bean Chili recipe a try.

It is easy to make, delicious, filling and very high in carbs – 47g per serving.  The recipe calls for 1-½ cups of dry French lentils. I used the lentils I had in my pantry and that ended up making 6 cups of cooked lentils. That seemed like a lot to me so I used 2 cups of cooked lentils, and the carb count dropped to 37g. The ingredients below still call for the 1-1/2 cups of dry french lentils. I’m not sure how many cups of cooked lentils that makes.  If you are watching your carb intake, I recommend adjusting accordingly.

Read More