Are Carbs Bad?

So many people have misconceptions about exactly what a carbohydrate, or "carb" is. They run from anything made of bread or pasta in fear of it sticking to their thighs or belly. There are a couple "diets" which remove starchy carbs--with the idea that carbs hinder weight loss.

You can eat bread, pasta and rice, and be healthy and lean. 
But the truth is, it's the quality, type and amount of carbohydrate that matters.

A carb is actually any food that gives the body energy. Most carb sources started by growing out of the ground, as a plant. And really, the lower we eat on the food chain, the more quality energy we'll get from our food.

A donut is a carb. (and a fat) It's a carb, because it gives us energy, but it's made with "refined" ingredients, white flour--flour which is stripped of its nutrients and bleached white.

Let's say this donut is 300 calories.





The fact is, this turkey enchilada is also 300 calories.

But it contains a different kind of carbs, called complex carbs. The enchilada is made with a small, whole grain tortilla, it is stuffed with a few black beans, ground turkey, and topped with lettuce and salsa. (these are vegetable carbs, natural wholesome foods that are unprocessed.)

Ok.. we're talking about two diffent foods that are 300 calories each. Big deal. Can you nutritionally swap one for the other? No. Your body knows the difference.

When you eat a donut, your body breaks down those refined sugars and carbs very quickly, because they were already broken down in the manufacturing process. Then, your blood sugar spikes and you have a sudden burst of energy. About an hour later, your body is trying to deal with the sudden onslaught of sugar, and your energy crashes.. so you reach for another donut. But don't do it!!!

When you eat the enchilada, you have a more superior form of energy in the whole grains, veggies and turkey. It's energy that lasts longer because it releases into your bloodstream gradually. The lean meat in the enchilada provides protein which keeps you fuller, longer and helps build lean, strong muscles. The black beans provide filling fiber and the salsa gives you flavor with few calories. You don't have sugar rush or crash and burn feeling of downing a few donuts.

Complex carbs give me excellent energy to push through grueling workouts and work harder--so I can burn more calories.

So how does this translate to eating bread and pasta? Chose whole grain bread, whole grain pasta and brown rice and keep the serving sizes small. I always tell people, have pasta, but make the serving the size of your fist. Then, have a big salad on the side. Stay away from white bread, white flour, white potatoes and sugar.

Eat a piece of crusty whole grain bread from the bakery, but then don't bread your chicken or pile potatoes on your plate.

Eat brown rice, quinoa, barley or farro. But eat about 1/3 of a cup cooked and round it out with vegetables. Our bodies need and want complex carbs to run, jump, think clearly and do all the amazing things we accomplish each day. But too much of any food like carbs, even "healthy" food, packs on the pounds and puts us at risk for all those diseases we don't like to talk about.

Yes. You can and should eat pasta if you want to!

Kitchen Staples For Clean Eating

What's in your kitchen? The answer may be the key to unlocking your weight loss and fitness potential. So start making some smart swaps. You have to transform your kitchen to transform your body.

 There are a few staples you'll want to work into the mix as you start to transition away from processed food into clean eating choices.

At the Stove:

• Extra Virgin Olive Oil: Use it to saute veggies, and for baking, instead of butter. I also brush meats with olive oil, stir fry with it, and drizzle it on pasta. Use it sparingly. Don't act like a celebrity chef and swirl it into the pan!

• Cooking spray: I use an olive oil spray or a canola oil spray.  It's super convenient to coat a pan before cooking eggs, limiting calories. You can also spray it on chicken before grilling. Spray bottles like "Misto" are available at culinary stores and allow you to spray your own olive oil. 
• Coconut Oil: It's light, heart healthy and gives great flavor to stir frys. Flavored varieties are useful for baking. Remember, it's a "good" fat, but it's still a fat. Limit quantities of all oils.

In the Pantry: 

• Switch to whole grain flour: Or at least try to alter some of your baking recipes with half whole grain, half white flour. There's an excellent variety of whole wheat flour called "white" whole wheat, which is a softer grain and it's not so gritty.
• Choose whole grain pasta: It's a little nutty, but if you cook it a little longer, it won't be tough. Boil it in chicken broth or vegetable broth for a naked sauce option. Toss it with parmesean cheese and add veggies. Remember, a serving size is the size of your fist. 

A fist-size serving of pasta.

• Old Fashioned Oats: Move over instant oatmeal, this is an excellent energy source and whole grain. Eat 1/2 cup cooked with Stevia and berries on top.
• Brown Rice: Brown rice isn't stripped of its outer fiber layers like white rice. It gives you more fiber and more staying power in terms of delivering even energy to your body. 
• Beans: Dried, or canned, keep a supply of lentils, black beans and kidney beans to make a protein rich salad, side dish or soup. 
• Onions: Have them on hand for soups, stews, salads, and stir fry. I love to season ground meat with onions, making meatballs juicy and flavorful. 

On the Shelf: 

• Stevia: It's an all-natural, zero calorie sweetener that doesn't spike your blood sugar like honey or agave syrup. Use it in place of sugar in the same ratios. 
• Spices: Eating clean doesn't mean giving up flavor. Choose a flavor profile like Italian, or Tex-Mex, and spice up your food. Italian flavors include basil, oregano, and red pepper flakes. Tex-Mex includes cumin, chili powder and cilantro. Experiment with flavors that make you happy. Make your own spice mixes like seasoned salt.
• Salt: Toss some in water before boiling pasta or cooking rice. 

In the Refrigerator: 

• Hot Sauce: Delicious on eggs or in soup. 
• Low sodium soy sauce: For stir fry or to add flavor to brown rice.
• Vinegar: For homemade salad dressing. 
• Minced garlic: For everything!
• Parmesean cheese: Excellent on eggs, pasta and whole grain cheese bread.
• Eggs: I eat two a day, usually scrambled with veggies.
• String Cheese: This is an awesome source of lean protein. I eat 2 at a time to get 16 grams of protein. 
• Greek Yogurt: My children whine that this is the "secret" ingredient in everything I cook. I agree. I use plain Greek yogurt and flavor it to suit my needs. Use stevia to make it sweet, or seasoned salt and herbs to turn it into dip. 
• Natural Peanut Butter: Peanut butter shouldn't have added hydrogenated fats or chemicals. Look for one with peanuts and salt. It must be kept in the refrigerator so it won't spoil. 

In the Fruit  and veg Drawer: 

• Apples keep well, and I always have lemons for squeezing on fish or turning into salad dressing.

Someone decorated the lemons in my fruit bowl.

• Pre-packed, pre-washed spring mix or romaine lettuce is convenient for quick salads.
• Portobello mushrooms make an easy base for a veggie pizza. 
• Avocado makes an excellent salad dressing base or sandwich spread. 

Snacks: 

• Keep nuts available, but limit the portion size on these good fats.
• Beef jerky: I found a lean, all natural product here in Nebraska with no preservatives. It's called Beef Bark. Find it at www.beefbark.com. It travels well and comes in dozens of flavors. 
• Whole grain crackers: Find a cracker with 5 ingredients or less and eat the proper serving size. 

Planning for The Feast

When it's cold outside, I want to bake to stay warm. When I bake, I want to eat. Mostly, I just want to smell cinnamon in my kitchen or wrap my hands around a mug of spiced chai tea. So how do we enjoy the season, without being a spoiler?

I think it's about keeping it all in perspective. One warm fresh baked pumpkin snickerdoodle cookie is delicious. The entire pan will leave me feeling crummy.  I think the key to nutrition and fitness success is to indulge--with limits. We run into trouble when every night, is dessert night. I remember a time several years ago when the meal wasn't finished until I had dessert--after lunch AND dinner. After age 40, those 100 calorie cookies catch up with you.

So faced with a buffet of holiday treats,  decide what you want most and throughly enjoy some of it. Then, make healthy decisions the rest of the week. If you know Aunt Rosemary's blueberry tarts with whipped cream are on the menu, and you wait all year for them-- eat clean the rest of the day--getting in those vegetables and lean protein.

At my gym we call this a "Free Day," a time to enjoy the proper portion size of the foods you love.

It's also important to contribute something to the feast that you know will sustain you and not leave you in a food coma. When people tell me they failed in the nutrition department because they ate what was served--I always ask, "What did you contribute to the meal?"

Take along a new veggie dish, a Greek-yogurt based dip, or a really beautiful side dish you'd be proud to share.

Here's a recipe for a colorful, hearty salad made with pomegranate and an ancient Italian grain called farro. You can find it at Trader Joe's or in the health food section of most grocery stores. Wheat berries are a good substitute. This serves up nicely as a side to turkey. In fact, I just made this with a pork tenderloin which I stuffed with apples, poblano peppers and sweet potatoes.

Slice the pomegranate into quarters and gently nudge out the berries. If you do this in a bowl of water in the sink, it makes clean up easy. The white pulp will rise to the top of the water.

Pomegranate Farro Salad

3 cups water
1 ½ cups farro or wheat berries
3 tbs balsamic vinegar
1 tbs pomegranate molasses
¼ cup olive oil
5 cups arugula (optional)
4 cups romaine
3 stalks celery, chopped
2/3 cup sliced green onions
½ cup pomegranate seeds (peel and clean the fruit)
½ cup roasted unsalted almonds, chopped

Bring water to boil. Add farro, return to boil. Simmer 25 min. Peel pomegranate.
Whisk vinegar, molasses, ½ tsp salt, ¼ tsp pepper in bowl. Drizzle in ¼ cup olive oil, whisk well. Add remaining ingredients, including cooled, drained wheat. Serving ¾ cup. 175 cal, 27 carbs.

Feeds 8, easily.
 Pomegranate molasses adds a tart element to the bold taste of balsmic vinegar and really completes this dish. Lighten it up by adding greens to the grains. If you're taking this to a party, add the greens when you get there, and toss throughly.

Get Moving
After that holiday meal, or before,  plan an activity which involves moving. My husband's Uncle Ed used to make everyone put on thier winter coats and go for a post-dinner stroll after dinner. It was a Thanksgiving tradition.  Get your regular exercise on holidays. It's good for stress relief. Most fitness centers offer holiday hours and it's a good break from the kitchen to break a sweat.

Don't Blow Calories on Booze
Alcohol calories quickly add up. And when we drink, we feel more free to eat everything in sight. Suddenly, it's ok to binge on the entire bowl of giant cashews. Know your limits and stick to it. Chase a beer or glass of wine with a glass of water. Alcohol also inhibits fat burning. So if you're serious about maintaining weight or losing body fat, booze is your worst enemy. It actually negates the effectiveness of your workouts.

Be Thankful
We are all thankful for something. If I focus on my "haves" I think I'll be healthier, happier and more able to manuever the "have nots." Plus, no one wants to be around a negative Nellie.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Is it Hunger? Or something else? Emotional Eating 101

No one wants to talk about it. It's about that bag of kettle chips that disappeared without a crumb or a trace, or the box of Girl Scout cookies that's missing an entire sleeve. When I see a super-clean food log from a person who hasn't lost a pound in a month, I know what's going in. It's not rocket science.

It's emotional eating, emotionless drinking or even just mindless eating. Do you eat, or drink-- when you're bored, lonely, stressed or sad?

Stop, think and ask yourself: "Do I want this? Am I hungry?" What's the real reason you head for the chocolate drawer or the bottle of wine?

Workplaces everywhere are loaded with baked goods, candy jars and leftover party food that your co-workers want to get rid of--just bring it to work! And before we know it, because it's there, we'll consume an extra 1,000 calories a day to just be polite, social, or busy. It seems like every social gathering, meeting or coffee has an endless supply of food involved.  Some day, keep track of the nibbles, bites, tastes and snacks you have outside your daily meals. You may be amazed at the calories you can down.

And if you're trying to lose excess pounds you need to think of food in a new way:

We eat to fuel. Food is fuel. It's not a way to stuff emotions. We don't have to "treat" ourselves or reward ourselves or our children with food. We're not dogs or circus animals.

If you're trying to clean up your diet, and cut out emotional eating, you have to find something to do with those emotions you're feeling. I get that. This is not easy work.

It might help to keep a little journal and write down your true feelings and frustrations. Don't turn to food or booze as a bandage. It may make you feel better initially, but then you just beat yourself up later for going down that path. If you have a significant amount of weight to lose, it can be extremely helpful to seek the help of a licensed counselor or therapist to get to the root of your food addiction.

Willpower is like a muscle. The more you exercise it, the stronger it gets. 

Every time you pass up that plate of pastries on the secretary's desk at work, you get a little bit stronger. You know there's a healthier option waiting in your lunch bag. Keep practicing that will power, and it will soon become automatic.

Here are some ways to work through those cravings or times you want to "eat" through your emotions:

1. call a friend

2. clean a drawer

3. organize your beauty products

4. sweep your floor

5. write an e-mail or letter to someone

6. do 20 push ups

7. do 20 sit ups

8. walk your dog

9. read a book

10. find a new recipe

11. prep your food for tomorrow.

12. have a cup of herbal tea

13. help a neighbor

14. chew some sugarless gum

15. text a friend, a coach or a fitness buddy

Changing our habits takes time and work. Know that you have the ability to change. You're hardwired for it. You just have to tap into it and practice it. 

Can you enjoy junk food and the calorie-laden foods you crave? Absolutely. There's room for a proper portion size of anything, once in a while. It's what keeps us balanced and happy. It's called your "free day"--to enjoy the foods you don't eat all the time. And then, it's back to the business of being a conscious eater.  

Food is fuel. Fuel on!!

Chili Weather

I could eat chili for breakfast. It's one of my favorite foods. It includes all the food groups, has a ton of flavor, travels well in my lunch bag and is extremely satisfying. This recipe keeps it lean because after you brown the meat, you drain it in a colander and then rinse it with water. When you return it to the pan, you add in all the spices and flavor. This recipe freezes well and you can turn it into chili-mac, by spooning it over cooked whole grain macaroni.

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Chili From Scratch

1 ½ lb lean ground beef or lean ground turkey

1 onion diced

1 tsp olive oil  

1 can diced tomatoes with juices

4 large garlic cloves chopped

3 tbs Chili Powder

2 tbs Cumin

½ tsp to 1 tsp cayenne pepper

2 cans low sodium beef broth without MSG

1-2 cans Chili Beans (medium seasoned)

Salt to taste

Brown ground meat in a frying pan. Drain the meat in a colander then give it a rinse with water and let it drain. Add the olive oil to the pan and saute the onion and garlic until soft.  Return the  meat to the pan. Add dry seasonings, beans, tomatoes and broth. Bring it all to a boil and then simmer for up to an hour, adding water if it’s too thick. Season to taste with seasoned salt. Freeze in portion sized batches.

Serving size ¾ cup

Protein: about 21

Carbs: about 20

Calories 175-200 per serving

Please Tell Me What To Eat!

I hear this from friends at the gym all the time.

"Please just tell me what to eat!" 

Once, I spent hours creating a detailed meal plan for a student at the gym-- complete with recipes, based on his weight loss goals and taste. He swore to me that he loved to cook and would make whatever I told him to eat. Twice, he asked me to do this. And wanting him to succeed, I took the time to create this meal plan.

I handed over the packet, explained it to him and then, I never saw him again.

Whole Grain pasta with homemade sauce

Maybe he was overwhelmed. Maybe he wanted me to make it so difficult for him that he was forced to quit his fitness journey because he just couldn't be successful. While I second guess myself all the time about the "meal plan man"--I've learned some valuable lessons.

People don't want to be TOLD what to eat. As a certified nutrition coach, I give folks lots of options about what they can and should eat. But there is so much flexibility, choice and variety in available foods that I don't want to take the joy out of simple eating. I've learned that basic guidelines, in many cases, are better than detailed plans. And then, I offer recipes to keep it fun and flavorful.

So.. what SHOULD you eat?  For starters, none of us eats enough vegetables. They're loaded with fiber, not calories. They fill us up and give us nutrients we simply can't get in processed foods.

• Eat something green every day--three times a day. Spinach, romaine lettuce and kale are my favorites. Kale and spinach blend nicely into a smoothie. Chop those greens, wilt them and roll 'em into scrambled eggs. Order veggies at restaurants without butter. 

• Eat lean protein like fish, ground turkey, lean ground beef and chicken. The average man needs about 20 grams of protein or less per meal. A woman needs about 15 grams. What does this look like? It's about the size of a deck of cards or slightly smaller.

• Eat whole grains like brown rice, whole grain pasta and whole grain bread. Whole grains contain energy-providing carbohydrates. Carbs are not bad! Carbs fuel our bodies. Just eat the right portion--about a cup of cooked pasta and 3/4 of a cup of cooked rice, per meal. And avoid "refined" carbs, which are processed foods stripped of nutrients. 

• Eat lean dairy like Greek yogurt, cottage cheese and yogurt smoothies. Dairy does double duty because it has carbs to give you energy and protein to build muscle and keep you full. Many times Greek yogurt with berries is one of the small meals I eat each day.

• Eat a small portion of "good fat" every day, like 20 almonds, 2 slices of avocado or a touch of olive oil. 

• Eat two fruits a day. Fruits with skin give you more fiber and take longer for your body to break down. Berries are low carb, which means you can have a larger portion. 
  

Finally, eat often, eat small. I subscribe to the nutrition plan that allows me to eat every three hours or roughly 6 times a day. Always eat a whole grain carb with a portion of protein, plus veggies. This can range from a turkey sandwich on whole grain, to tuna salad in a half pita, or an apple and two pieces of string cheese. 

I'm not going to tell you what to eat...exactly. But you get the picture!!

Soup's On

The cold north wind is blowing. Cool September rains are creating mud puddle obstacles on the walk to school. I've pulled my favorite leather boots out of the attic. And it's football season. That can only mean one thing: It's soup weather.

On the food satisfaction scale, soup is right up there-- in my opinion. I think I could eat it every day and never get tired of it. When I was a kid, September meant my Italian Nonna always had a pot of minestrone going, full of zucchini, tomatoes, greens and other fresh vegetables. We'd sprinkle it with a good dusting of grated parmesan cheese and dive into it.

She'd usually serve crusty Italian bread on the side, along with chunks of cheese and marinated olives. That truly was clean, homemade eating.

Being somewhat of a soup snob, I tend to shun canned soups because they're thin, fake tasting, loaded with sodium and flavorless. Plus, it's so easy to create a steaming pot of soup yourself. It freezes well and you can eat it a couple days in a row with a sandwich or salad on the side.

Here's a recipe for Confetti soup which features black eyed peas. I looked for frozen ones, but settled for canned beans. They were just fine after I drained them and rinsed them with water.

Black eyed peas have decent protein and fairly low carbs. The fiber in them makes the soup satisfying and you can certainly add meat to the soup for flavor or an added protein boost to help build lean muscle. The kale adds a ton of vitamin A and bold flavor.

Confetti Soup:

one cup chopped onions
1 yellow or red bell pepper, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
2 cups finely chopped kale
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp cumin
1/8 tsp crushed red pepper
2 cans fat-free chicken broth (no msg)
2 cans black-eyed peas, rinsed and drained
optional 1 lb ground turkey, cooked rinsed and drained.


Coat a large pot with cooking spray. Add onions and peppers, cooking for about five minutes on medium heat. Add kale, chili powder, cumin and red pepper. Cook and stir for about 2 minutes, until kale is bright green Add broth, black-eyed peas and turkey meat. Taste and season with salt and pepper. Simmer for ten minutes and serve.

Makes 6, 1 cup servings. 151 calories, 9-15 gr. protein with turkey, 26 carbs.
Recipe adapted from the booklet, "Evelyn's Essentials."