Chicken Parmesan, Paleo Style

I know, I know...its not bad enough I have my own mother and every other Latin mother disowning me for giving up rice (yes, you can be disowned by people not in your family).  Now I'm probably about to get disowned by the Italians entirely...

I was experiementing a bit last night with Chicken Parmesan.  Although it will never even come close to comparing the pollo parmigiano di nonni, this recipe will prevent the 3-day carbohydrate coma that usually follows.  Good thing about prepping for the Paleo Chicken Parm is that its almost identical to regular chicken parmesan so nonni won't hit you with the broomstick...yet.

Ingredients

*almond flour

*chicken breasts

*1 egg 

*seasoning, to taste

I poured some of the almond flour on a plate next to the bowl with the scrambled egg.  After coating the chicken breast with the egg, I place the chicken in the almond flour and gave it a nice coating.  Making sure it was completely covered, I placed the both pieces of chicken on a flat baking sheet.  Before baking, I added my own seasoning: mostly Adobo, cayenne pepper and paprika. Place the baking sheet into the oven that's been pre-heated to 350 degrees and set the timer for 15-20 minutes.  

You may find that the almond meal my not stay completely on the chicken.  You may have to play around with baking time and temperature to allow the almond meal brown and keep the chicken coated.  

This can easily be paired with a salad, stir-fry vegetables or some spaghetti squash and a side of avocado for a complete Paleo meal.  Bon apetit!

can pancakes be good for you!?

I can say "yes" confidently, more with a resounding HELLS YEAH!!

Ironically, this happened to be the perfect storm (yes, pun intended): not only was this my first crack at Paleo Pancakes, but I was racing against the clock because even though I had power, I didn't know for how long, thanks to Hurricane Irene.  (I luckily survived the night with power, only to lose it half way through my meal).

At first glance, the ingredients seems sparse, dry and bland.  Looks can be very deceiving.  Here's a list of the ingredients:

*1 cup almond flour

*3 eggs (you may need more or less, depending on the size of your eggs)

*1/4 tsp vanilla extract

*1/4 tsp cinnamon

(After mixing the ingredients, the consistency was a little dry and I added a bit of half & half/cream.)

 The best part about these pancakes is that they cook just like normal pancakes: cook them for a few minutes on each side until golden brown and BAM, you have Paleo Pancakes!  

Now comes the hard part...no syrup!  Syrup is pure sugar (or high fructose corn syrup), which causes your blood sugar to fly through the roof, then after the inevitable crash, you end up craving more sugar (carbs) and the viscous cycle is repeated.  What is the result?  This lovely statistic.  So what DID I use?  Peanut butter.  Yes, I know peanut butter is NOT Paleo but its all I had left.  However, the pancackes tasted just as good and this'll probably be my first breakfast meal after I get power back.  

Oktoberfest...here I come!!!

You can toss this article under the list of "Please don't take this too literally".  

I have come across multiple studies that tout the recovery benefits of beer and lagers.  According to this article, non-alcoholic beer aids in recovery due to the polyphenols contained within beer.  According to the article, polyphenols are substances found in plants (mostly like from the hops and barley) that somehow help the immune system suppress any inflammation and viral infections after strenous activity, in this case, after a marathon.  Individuals drinking the non-alcoholic beer reported being less sick and able to resume training much sooner than those ingesting the placebo.  

WARNING: as fun as it sounds, please do not try to replicate this study with alcoholic beer.  According to the study, runners ingested as much as 1.5 liters of non-alcholoic beer everyday for two weeks prior to the race and up to three weeks after the race.  This equates to 3-4 pints of beer everyday...not the best idea if care to keep your career intact!  However, partaking in the sponsor's promotion of a race is highly recommended!  

Compete with wreckless abondan.  Get home safely. 

better food for thought

Sorry for being a bit MIA but I've been enjoying the summer and trying not to laugh at the idiots in D.C. for various reasons.  As a trainer, I'm mostly laughing at them for the garbage they call the food "plate".  

Here's a small peak at some future posts...

Just pop a pill...really!?

This is another hot topic in the Health and Wellness industry and a topic in which I'm constantly fielding questions: what protein powder should I take?  Should I take protein powder at all?  Is creatine safe?  I hear fish oils are good for me but do I really need it?

Americans have become very good at being efficient.  However, it has come at the cost of becoming lazy and losing some of our intelligence.  Why take one flight of stairs when we can wait 10 minutes for a 10-second elevator ride?  Why do squats when I can run on the treadmill/elliptical?  Enter the late-night infomercials.  But it hasn't stopped there.  Pharmaceutical companies have been spending billions of dollars in hopes of finding a simple and easy way to help with weight loss, mainly by popping a pill.  However, they are realizing its not as easy as they would've hoped.  

Pharmaceutical companies are fighting against thousands of years of evolution.  The human body was never meant to lose fat/weight.  It was meant to do the complete opposite: store weight and nutrients in the event of famine.  There are plenty of risks associated with trying to go against evolution.  Assuming the products beat the odds and make it past clinical testing, they make it to store shelves with warning labels and various side effects.  Unfortunately, within a short period of time, the products are pulled and recalled because the side effects are too dangerous (Meridia, Fen-phen, Rimonabat, and ephedra).  However, with a little bit of research, you can surmise that these quick-fixes are doomed from the start and dangerous for most of the population.

Most weight loss pills are stimulants, usually full of caffine.  However, just increasing the heart rate is not always the safest way to go.  Assuming you're not taking any other medications, why would you want to feel like you just drank a pot of espresso?  And if you're already at risk for cardiovascular disease, increasing the heart rate is the LAST thing you want to do.  

So what can you do?  There's no short-cut: eat right (clean protein, lots of vegetables and some healthy fats).  Push yourself during your workouts.  Take a multivitamin and/or fish oils every once in a while.  Chances are, you'll feel better, have more energy and you'll actually enjoy working out.  Once you enjoy working out, the pounds will shed much more quickly.