Recipe's

Simple is the name of the game when you are working on new eating habits. Here are a few meals that should meet that criterion. The pork dish might not count as simple, but it is interesting enough and Paleo certified.

Chicken In A Pot
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3 lb whole chicken
2 carrots, sliced
2 onions, sliced
2 celery stalks with leaves, cut in 1 inch pieces
1 ts basil
1/2 ts salt
1/2 ts black pepper
1/2 c chicken broth

Put carrots, onions, and celery in bottom of crock-pot. Add whole
chicken. Top with salt, pepper, liquid. Sprinkle basil over top.
Cover and cook until done-low 8 to 10 hours. (High 3 to 4 hours,
using 1 cup water). Remove chicken and vegetables with spatula.
Yield: 6 servings

Apple and Pork Curry
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2 tb Olive oil
4 Boneless pork chops; trimmed
1 Small onion; sliced thin
1 Clove of garlic; minced
1 Tart cooking apple
1 Small sweet red pepper
1/2 c Chicken stock
1 ts Arrowroot
1 ts Curry powder
1/2 ts Ground cumin
1/2 ts Cinnamon
Freshly ground black pepper
Chopped parsley or coriander

* The cooking apple should be peeled and sliced, the pepper should be
seeded and cut into thin strips. In a heavy fry pan, heat oil over
medium-high heat. Cook pork chops until browned on both sides and
almost cooked through; remove from pan and set aside. Over medium
heat, cook the onion, garlic, apple and red pepper strips for 2
minutes or until softened. Blend chicken stock with arrowroot; add
to pan along with curry powder, cumin and cinnamon; cook for 1 or 2
minutes until slightly reduced and thickened. Return pork chops to
fry pan; adjust seasoning with pepper. Cook for 1 or 2 minutes
or until heated through. Serve pork chops with sauce and sprinkle
with fresh chopped parsley or coriander. Serves 4.

Broccoli with Golden Garlic and Lemon
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1 bunch broccoli, about 1 pound
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
3 garlic cloves, cut into thin slivers
1/8 tsp pepper
3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

Cook broccoli in a large saucepan of boiling water 5-6 minutes, or until
crisp tender. Drain in a colander. Arrange on a serving dish and cover to
keep warm. In a small frying pan, warm olive oil over low heat. Stir in
garlic and cook slowly until golden brown, be careful not to burn the
garlic, about 1-2 minutes. Add pepper and lemon juice. Pour over broccoli.

Apple Ice Kreme
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This light and refreshing dessert takes a simple apple and makes you
feel like you are eating something positively sinful. Use sweet apples. If
you use a tart apple, like Granny Smith, you may find that you need to use
a lot more maple syrup than the recipe calls for to achieve the level of
sweetness most people like in a dessert.

2 cups applesauce (made by putting several peeled and cored apples
through the Champion with blank)
2 cups apple juice
2 Tablespoons pure maple syrup
2 Teaspoons lemon juice

Puree in blender or food processor. Place in shallow dish and freeze. Serve
by scraping into curls with a soup spoon or ice cream scoop.
Variation: Add a scoop or two of Apple Ice Kream to chilled Sparkling apple
cider or apple juice for a special drink.
Note: try this with peaches, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, kiwi,
oranges, tangerines, etc.

On and off the Wagons

Have you fallen off the wagon yet? I did a little research and this phrase supposedly originated in the prohibition era. Horse drawn water carts were used to keep the dust down on the streets and men who had sworn off liquor would rather jump on the water wagon to get their drink then to break their vow. On to my next wagon, the "bandwagon". Jumped on any bandwagons lately? If you don't jump on any wagons there will be none to fall off. What is my point? Well when it comes to food and diets we are usually too quick to latch on to the next best thing, the newest yet somehow most tried and true method to come before us. We often pay more attention to what someone else has done and the results that they have gotten and less to what we are or are not doing ourselves. If you hope to ever have a sustainable diet it must be something that works for you...YOU. It will take hard work,there will definitely be some missteps and some lessons learned but you want and need all of them. You need to see how the various diets fit you, not how you fit the diets. When it all boils down, the fact that you are making a concerted effort to eat "pretty good", "healthy", or "right" is what counts; and it is what you can count on for a better future.

Also I would just like to mention that the above illustration was the only one I could find that came close to what I was going for- but I think the fact that the wagon is labeled "The Wagon" is as ridiculous as the written sound effect of "ka-bump!".

Name : Ingredients

I recently found myself walking through Costco with a cart full of items that have one name and the same ingredient i.e. eggs-eggs, or asparagus-asparagus, 1:1. You get the idea and it seems regular, but what I noticed is many people did not have the same simplicity in their own carts. My favorite cart had a Costco sized bag of cool ranch Doritos on top of package of hot dog buns, on top of a package of ground turkey. So...solid base for them 1:1- name to ingredient after that 1:14-ish, 1:27ish, not so good-ish. So the point being the less processing and the less complications that goes into the food that you put into your body the better. Check out the book "Food Rules" by Michael Pollan. It is about 5 bucks on Amazon, more of a pamphlet than a book but it has some good points like, "Don't eat breakfast cereals that change the color of the milk" (not illustrated in the above picture). Check it out, let me know what you think.

The "Dangerous Weekend"

The weekend can be a "dangerous" time when you're on a new eating plan. Most people take the time to have a nice meal out, the mistake is treating yourself to something more or other than a nice meal out. The extra helping of this, the big dessert, finishing off the kids plates etc. The weekend doesn't have to be a free-for-all; eat smart, relax and start this next week off better than the last. Here is a list of some tips on how to stay healthy when eating out. Have a great weekend!

Breakfast, Lunch, & Dinner

The breakfast is paleo, and the lunch and dinner are zone friendly, see if any of these dishes work for you-

Breakfast; Scrambled Eggs with Mushroom and Pine Nuts
Ingredients:
3 eggs
2tbs chives, finely chopped
1cup sliced mushrooms
1tbs oil
1tbs pine nuts
Salt and pepper
Directions:
Place oil in a frying pan on medium heat, fry onions for 3-4min or until slightly browned, remove from pan.
Whisk eggs in a bowl then place in the frying pan, stirring continuously.
When eggs have almost cooked through, add the chives and continue cooking for a further 1min, or until eggs are
cooked through. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Remove from heat and stir in mushrooms before serving.

Lunch; Turkey Sandwich
Ingredients:
1 8" tortilla
2 slices Borden's 2% low fat American cheese
1/2 an avocado
3 slices tomato
2 to 3 leaf's of Romaine lettuce
3 oz's sliced turkey breast (about 3 slices)
Directions:
Heat tortilla and cheese, until cheese is slightly melted.
Remove from oven, or toaster oven and slice avocado onto melted cheese.
Place one slice turkey, tomatoes, lettuce, turkey, lettuce and last slice turkey.
Wrap together, and enjoy with half a cup of blueberries or peaches.

Dinner; Salmon and Vegetable Medley
Ingredients:
6 oz. Salmon [4P]
2 1/2cups Zucchini chopped [1/2C]
2 1/2 cups Summer Squash [1/2C]
3/4 cups carrots, diced [1C]
Directions:
Poach salmon in 1 cup orange juice. Remove and sprinkle with dill.
Sauté vegetables in 2 tsp. butter on a medium heat. Add 1 1/2 tablespoons carrowway seeds and mix thoroughly.
For dessert have 1 apple or 1 cup grapes. [2 C]

Food, the Universal Language

Sure he talks a little funny, and some of it seems like scare tactics, but he makes some very good points. Food is one of the most universal if not the most universal thing among the human race, but for many reasons in countries like ours it is hard to understand and easy to confuse. Take this six weeks to give yourself an education in food and how we eat what we eat, when we eat it. Of course there is a signifiant monetary incentive to win this challenge; think of the money you will save on future medical bills and buying crap food if you can just take away a few new habits, or thoughts on how to live better via your daily diet. I will get some recipies up here shortly that give some good ideas for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Also the links to the right---> will give you some good info, especially the farmers market link which is my personal favorite- check it out.

It's Picture Time!

The Look Better(almost) Naked Challenge is officially ON!! Important dates and times are as follows:
April 1st-3rd get your picture taken at one of the 3 facilities during class times
April 3rd Nutritional Game Plan meeting at the Cherry gym 1pm
April 6th Nutritional Game Plan meeting at the Tustin gym 6pm
April 5th - May 17th 6wks to get in challenge winning shape!
May 17th-19th get your 2nd pictures taken at one of the 3 facilities during class times
Winners will be judged by fellow 360 members at the end of 6 weeks on a password protected photo album. Faces will be obscured.
Be sure to bookmark this blog for recipes, nutrition articles, and general support for this 6week endeavor. More to come. Good luck to all the participants, you can do it!!