Friday, May 28, 2010

Recipe of the Week

Margarita Cheesecake
1/4 cup honey
1 cup organic vanilla wafers
2 packages Neufchatel cheese
1 cup non fat plain greek yogurt
3/4 cup organic cane sugar
3 TBSP Grand Marnier
3 TBSP gold tequila
3 TBSP fresh lime juice
1/2 cup egg whites
2 TSP lime zest

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Crumble wafers, then add honey and combine thoroughly. Pack crust mixture into spring pan and bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown, but soft to the touch immediately after taking out of oven.
Thoroughly mix Neufchatel cheese and greek yogurt together. Then, add sugar, lime juice, Grand Marnier, and tequila to mixture. When evenly combined slowly add in egg whites. After egg whites are mixed in add in zest.
Reduce heat to 300 degrees. Put filling in crust and spread evenly. Tap pan on counter to make sure there is no bubbles. Bake for 30 minutes. While keeping cheesecake in oven, increase temperature to 325 degrees and bake for between 17-20 minutes. After taking out of oven let cheesecake cool completely, then refridgerate.

Makes 12 servings.

About 250 calories, 7g fat, 48 carbohydrates, 5g protein.

Last Night's Dinner

Last night I made the most delicious quesadilla's for my family. I combined a couple of recipes to make turkey pumpkin quesadillas. I used brown rice tortillas from Trader Joe's, black beans, ground turkey seasoned with cumin, onion powder, pepper, and chili powder, sauteed onions and green peppers with plain pumpkin mixed in, and topped it off with a pinch of cheese. After assembly, I baked them for about 10 minutes to melt the cheese and they came out delicious! One is all you need for a meal, as they were very large. Also, the tortilla became crispy in the oven so, as something different, they had a great crunch that went well will the filling.

Thursday, May 27, 2010

My Heart Just Skipped A Beat

As a member of the Team Beachbody community, my heart almost skipped a beat when I got an email about Chalene Johnson's new Turbo Fire!! She is is my favorite trainer and motivator and I've been looking forward to some new workouts from her (I get bored easily, so 6 months of Chalean Extreme needed a break). Here is the link to the preview:


Tuesday, May 25, 2010

The Case Against Splenda



Some days I sit down and try to find new tips about exercising and new clean eating recipes only to find that some people put Splenda into the foods they eat. Splenda is not a clean food! While the commercials across the television screen suggests that the sugar substitute comes is a healthy derivative of sugar--they are not wrong in that it comes from sugar, but they fail to meet the typical standards of "healthy", as Splenda is in fact chemically produced. When I think about this, I imagine something to the likes of a cleaning product pouring from that Splenda packet into my coffee. Personally, I quit using Splenda a couple years ago when I started noticing I had bladder discomfort and bloating. I also read an article that explained the real horror of this sugar substitute.

In a study done by Duke University in 2008, it was found that Splenda and other sucralose products are actually destructive to our bodies. Below is the article for all to read (it's long so I will highlight the important parts). What you have to understand is that the sugar industry actually funded the study and when the results were not to their liking, they dismissed the claims proven by the study. The idea of the corporate machine, however, is another story for another day.

Duke Study Not Sweet on Splenda 

By Truman Lewis
ConsumerAffairs.com

A new Duke University study finds that the artificial sweetener Splenda contributes to obesity, destroys beneficial intestinal bacteria and may interfere with absorption of prescription drugs.

It's the latest in a continuing round of studies, claims and counter-claims pitting artificial sweeteners against the powerful Sugar Association, the lobbying group for the sugar industry, which financed the Duke study.

McNeil Nutritionals, which manufactures Splenda, said the study's findings were "unsupported by the data presented" and said Splenda may be safely used "as part of a healthy diet." The study is scheduled to be published in a forthcoming issue of The Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health. An advance copy appears on its Web site.

A Minneapolis-based group called Citizens for Health said the Duke study demonstrates that Splenda is a health threat. The group, headed by attorney Jim Turner, has been collecting consumer reports of side effects supposedly caused by Splenda.

"The report makes it clear that the artificial sweetener Splenda and its key component sucralose pose a threat to the people who consume the product. Hundreds of consumers have complained to us about side effects from using Splenda and this study ... confirms that the chemicals in the little yellow package should carry a big red warning label," said Turner.

Turner's group has filed a petition with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) calling on it to review its approval of sucralose and to require a warning label on Splenda packaging cautioning that people who take medications or have gastrointestinal problems avoid using Splenda.

"The new study makes it clear that Splenda can cause you to gain weight and lose the benefits of medications designed to improve and protect your health. The FDA should not continue to turn a blind eye to this health threat," Turner said.

In February, a study published in Behavioral Neuroscience cites laboratory evidence that the widespread use of no-calorie sweeteners may actually make it harder for people to control their intake and body weight.

McNeil and the Sugar Association have been waging war in the courts and the public arena for years. In 2004, the association sued McNeil, claiming it had misled consumers by claiming that Splenda was "made like sugar, so it tastes like sugar."

Splenda's main ingredient -- sucralose -- is manufactured. The process involves the use of a sugar molecule but there is no sugar in the finished product.

The Duke study was conducted on rats over a 12-week period. A lead researcher, Dr. Mohamed B. Abou-Donia, said the Sugar Association had no input into the study's findings.

Earlier study
In the February study, psychologists at Purdue University’s Ingestive Behavior Research Center reported that compared with rats that ate yogurt sweetened with sugar, those given yogurt sweetened with zero-calorie saccharin later consumed more calories, gained more weight, put on more body fat, and didn’t make up for it by cutting back later.

Authors Susan Swithers, PhD, and Terry Davidson, PhD, theorize that by breaking the connection between a sweet sensation and high-calorie food, the use of saccharin changes the body’s ability to regulate intake. That change depends on experience.

Problems with self-regulation might explain in part why obesity has risen in parallel with the use of artificial sweeteners. It also might explain why, says Swithers, scientific consensus on human use of artificial sweeteners is inconclusive, with various studies finding evidence of weight loss, weight gain or little effect.

Because people may have different experiences with artificial and natural sweeteners, human studies that don’t take into account prior consumption may produce a variety of outcomes.

Three different experiments explored whether saccharin changed lab animals’ ability to regulate their intake, using different assessments -- the most obvious being caloric intake, weight gain, and compensating by cutting back.

But why?
Why would a sugar substitute backfire?

Swithers and Davidson wrote that sweet foods provide a “salient orosensory stimulus” that strongly predicts someone is about to take in a lot of calories. Ingestive and digestive reflexes gear up for that intake but when false sweetness isn’t followed by lots of calories, the system gets confused. Thus, people may eat more or expend less energy than they otherwise would.

The good news, Swithers says, is that people can still count calories to regulate intake and body weight. However, she sympathizes with the dieter’s lament that counting calories requires more conscious effort than consuming low-calorie foods.

Swithers adds that based on the lab’s hypothesis, other artificial sweeteners such as aspartame, sucralose and acesulfame K, which also taste sweet but do not predict the delivery of calories, could have similar effects.

Finally, although the results are consistent with the idea that humans would show similar effects, human study is required for further demonstration

Read more: http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2008/09/splenda_study.html#ixzz0ox3raTiJ

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Additional Reads:
Sucralose Toxicology Information
The Potential Danger of Splenda

I would love to hear your thoughts on Splenda and sugar substitutes!

Thursday, May 20, 2010

The Great Tea Discovery

I am a big fan of tea. It doesn't leave you dehydrated like coffee and is a great, tasty alternative to water. Recently, at my graduation party with my family, I ordered tea and when the waiter brought out the tea box I was intrigued to try the Harney & Sons Black Currant tea. After the first sip I was in heaven. It was delightfully fruity and didn't require any sweetener (I don't put sweetener in my tea anyways). If you want to check it out for yourself, here is the product website!


Harney & Sons Black Currant Tea

Recipe of the Week

In the food world everyone knows M is for muffins, however, muffins usually mean sugar and white flour. What is a "clean" girl to do? Well, make my own protein snack muffins! (Sorry about the picture, took it with my horrible phone.)

Every week I will share a new recipe, maybe even two if I can't bear not to share!

Oatmeal Raisin and Banana Protein Snack Muffins
1 1/2 mashed bananas
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
2 scoops unflavored whey protein powder
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup Whole Foods organic unsweetened applesauce
2 egg whites
1 TSP cinnamon
Dash of nutmeg
1 TSP vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mash banana in small bowl. In a large bowl thoroughly combine rolled oats, protein powder, mashed bananas, raisins, applesauce, egg whites, vanilla extract, nutmeg, and cinnamon with spatula.
Line muffin pan with paper liners. Evenly fill each cup with batter. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool.

Makes 8 servings.

About 130 calories, 1g fat, 13g carbohydrates, 9g protein.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

My Mission

Most Americans find themselves in various dilemmas when it comes to eating and exercise. For me it has been a struggle for most of my life, beginning as an overweight pre-teen and teen. Once I got to college I spent a lot of time running and working out, as I had yet to meet any meaningful friends. As the years progressed (and yes, I did make friends) I tried every combination of diet (low-fat, low-carb), every diet food out there (splenda, a lot of packages foods that claimed to be healthy, Lean Cuisine), and attempted to master several kinds of fitness programs. While I lost about 15 pounds my first year of college (no freshman 15 here!), I was at a standstill for the next three years and would scrutinize everything I put into my mouth. I was giving myself more work than I needed as I was constantly bombarded by fitness and diet information from a variety of sources.

Finally, about a year ago, I started my true destiny towards fitness and being happy and healthy (I may as well add that I have genetically-related high cholesterol and predestined for high blood pressure and degenerative back disease). I watched an infomercial for Beachbody exercise videos and became interested, but not serious because, hello, it was an infomercial product. I did a little more research and decided to give their products a try as they came with a money-back guarantee. I got hooked on Chalene Johnson's Chalean Extreme videos. I was never one to build muscle quickly, but with her I was becoming more defined, but not necessarily as muscular as her product claimed it would make me. Still, I was extremely satisfied with her videos and, doubled with a now balanced diet, free of partially-hydrogenated packaged crap, I lost about another 8 pounds. Although I was healthy and at an ideal weight, I was not at my ideal physique.

Things recently changed again when I came across both Clean Eating and Oxygen magazines. For the past 3 weeks or so I have been reading up on the things both mags had to offer and, although I haven't seen any major results yet (too early), I've revamped my lifestyle to be one of sustainance. The Clean Eating lifestyle that included foods that are as close to nature as possible has given me more energy and I'm no longer bloated from the foods I was eating (I have a very sensitive stomach and easily become bloated or sick). I feel good about myself for the first time, especially because of the workouts I've been following in Oxygen magazine (I modify it with the Chalean strategy of slow, heavy lifting with less reps as that's been the only way for me to tone up). What I appreciate about Oxygen mag is that it has a "tough-love" mentality, as it's geared towards fitness competitors (most fitness magazines geared towards women are not honest and straight-forward about the real work that comes with achieving a lean, toned body and claim their strategies will give you the results you want... I have yet to see that). Now, I'm not planning on competing, but what I need is a kick in the butt to lose my extra belly fat (I carry my weight around the middle) and achieve my goals.

The purpose of this journal will be to share my progress as well as new recipes that I've created based on the clean eating philosophy (and recipes that I find elsewhere). I would love to have those that read this blog share tips and perhaps help both me and each other to understand things we may have questions about and to share personal experiences.

I shall end with a few stats...
Gender: female
Age: 21
Weight (less concerned about than measurements): 117 lb
Height: 5'3"
Measurements in inches: chest (36), waist (27), low waist (32), hips (35.5), arms (about 11.5), right thigh (21.5), left thigh (21)

What I ate and exercised today so far...
Breakfast: egg white omelet (about 1/3 cup) with green peppers and onions, 2 thin slices seeded whole wheat toast, (about) 2 tablespoons of Tofutti cream cheese
Workout: abs, outer thigh, inner thigh, back, chest
Snack (post-workout): pear
Lunch: 3 thin slices soy cheese wrapped with 2 slices of ham and 3 thin slices pastrami total (I know deli meat isn't very clean, but it's all I had today in the house), wedge of cantaloupe
Snack: homemade protein muffin
Dinner: Mexican casserole with organic corn tortillas, salsa, soy cheese, ground beef, black beans, onions, peppers, corn
Snack: 1 cup whole grain cereal (should not have eaten this because cereal is sugary and makes me crave sugar)