April 03, 2019 at 05:00AM by CWC Sometimes, I miss the food habits of my early 20s. I ate my 25 cent ramen blissfully unaware of the dangers of processed food. Buying organic wasn’t really a thing because I didn’t really know how bad pesticides were. I’d never heard the words “Whole30,” “ketogenic,” or “intermittent fasting,” so my brain wasn’t muddled by what “eating plan” I should stick to. I knew fruits, veggies, protein, and healthy fats were good for you, and that too much sugar wasn’t great, but I didn’t know why, and besides—it tasted too good to give up. (Come back to me, 22-year-old metabolism!) Now, I’m 32, have been a food reporter for four years, and am a certified health coach. All day, I’m bombarded with information about something else lurking in our food that is linked to very scary health problems. Or the importance of counting your macros. Or how coffee can just make anxiety even worse for some people. Yes, knowledge is power, and I think it’s important to know as much as I can about what I’m putting into my body. But constantly keeping up with healthy food news can be scary (everything is bad for you!), confusing (wait, eggs are good for you now? Last week a study said they were bad!), and exhausting. Despite all this, I still love food. I love cooking, I love eating, I love trying new cuisines and new restaurants. And I promise the two things—knowing…a lot about
Category: Keto
Tacos are back on the menu for low-carb eaters with this high-protein tortilla swap
April 03, 2019 at 02:00AM by CWC I wish the name of every day started with the letter “T” so that we could enjoy the satisfying alliteration of “Taco Tuesday” to the tune of seven times per week. And if you’re living that low-carb or gluten-free life, you can still experience the magic of Taco Tednesday (just watch, it’s gonna be a thing) by swapping out the corn or flour tortilla for…an egg. While I spotted this health-forward hack on the Bulletproof blog, Taco Bell may in fact be the (surprising) brains behind the operation. According to Food&Wine, the fast food chain debuted the tortilla-less taco back in 2017, when the Naked Egg Taco first hit its menu. This Taco Triday (not giving this one up), skip the drive-thru by frying up your own set of eggs (the Bulletproof blog recommends using ghee to grease your pan, but you should really do you when it comes to choosing a cooking fat) and wrapping them around your fave fixings. Need some inspo? Try mixing and matching the ingredients below. Pick your protein: chicken, ground beef, black beans, crispy vegan taco meat Load up the veggies: sliced peppers, tomatoes, avocado, caramelized onions, mushrooms, lettuce, corn, green chiles Spice things up: taco seasoning, cilantro, parsley, lime, Top it off: salsa, guacamole, healthy queso, pico de gallo, sour cream Eggs are kind of magical: You can also use them to make two-ingredient “squashbread” and supercharged oatmeal. Continue Reading… Author Kells McPhillips | Well and Good
Potatoes are actually pretty damn good for you, according to these registered dietitians
April 02, 2019 at 12:00PM by CWC [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zYQBK7Nq18] Thanks to the ketogenic diet and other low-carb eating plans, potatoes have an even worse rep than Emma Stone’s character in Easy A. (The only exception: sweet potatoes, which have somehow managed to secure a shiny health halo.) But as people increasingly shift away from “meat and potatoes” to “grass-fed beef and cauliflower mash,” spuds are left in the corner looking like a sad sack of…well, you know. Which begs the question: Are potatoes healthy? And do they deserve their fate as culinary outcasts? “Potatoes have been vilified over the past few years because they’re high in carbs and they also raise your blood sugar quickly,” says 80 Twenty Nutrition founder Christy Brissette, RD. “So a lot of diets and nutrition experts give the advice to avoid eating white, starchy foods because of that blood sugar surge.” But despite that, Brissette is not anti-spud. And neither is Tracy Lockwood Beckerman, RD, host of Well+Good’s new video series You vs Food. Here’s why both nutritionists say that the humble potato is a worthy addition to anyone’s diet. TBH, potatoes have a pretty stellar nutritional profile Potatoes have it going on in the nutrition department. “Because they’re a vegetable—and not, say, a nutrient-void processed food—they come with a lot of benefits,” Brissette says. Need proof? One large, raw potato also has nine grams of fiber, 1502 mg of potassium (three times as much as what you’d get in a banana!) and 34 mg of vitamin C. “People
7 nutritionists share the most common questions they get about healthy eating
April 01, 2019 at 10:30AM by CWC Let’s face it—healthy eating is confusing. Studies are all over the place (one day eggs are bad, next day they’re good, next day they’re bad again), there’s never been more eating plans to choose from (paleo, keto, Mediterranean, oh my!) and basically every food company has tried to come up with some wellness “spin” for their products, whether or not they’re actually healthy. The information (and choices!) can be paralyzing. To help clear up at least some of this confusion, we talked to seven dietitians and nutritionists about the most frequently asked food questions they’ve encountered—because if they hear them all the time, chances are you and I are asking those same questions, too. 1. “Is coconut oil healthy?” The answer? Sort of. “Coconut oil wears a ‘health halo,’ leading people to believe it’s better for them than other oils,” says Lauren Harris-Pincus, RD, author of The Protein-Packed Breakfast Club. She says the hype has gotten so intense that many of her clients have adopted coconut oil in favor of olive or avocado oils. Here’s the thing: Coconut oil is really high in saturated fat (one tablespoon has 12 grams). While some saturated fat is important, too much has been associated with higher cholesterol levels and other negative health outcomes. “The American Heart Association recommends limiting intake of saturated fats,” Harris-Pincus says, and compared to other oils, coconut oil has a greater proportion of saturated fats while delivering a similar calorie and overall fat
The sweet heat in this healthy sauce will make your veggies sing
March 29, 2019 at 08:50AM by CWC The amount of stir-fry sauces in my fridge right now is straight-up embarrassing. I’ve been on a quest to find a week-night recipe for a while now. After trying nearly every new option I’ve spotted on store shelves, I’m still without one that has the perfect balance of healthy ingredients and complex flavors. But now I can have it all with a healthy stir-fry sauce recipe easy enough to do in my own kitchen. The recipe developer behind the plant-based food blog Minimalist Baker, Dana Shultz, recently shared her 20-minute tofu stir-fry recipe. While the marinated tofu and cauliflower rice is worth of praise on its own, it’s the ridiculously easy sauce that’s the ultimate win. Each of its five ingredients have an important duty that, when combined, creates a sauce that works with any vegetable and protein pairing your heart desires. The recipes includes: “chili garlic sauce for heat, lime juice for acidity, maple syrup for sweetness, peanut butter to thicken, and coconut aminos or tamari for saltiness and depth of flavor,” Shultz writes. View this post on Instagram NEW! AMAZING 20-Minute Tofu Stir-Fry! 😍🌿🌶️🍚🥡 The perfect fast lunch or easy dinner when you’re short on time, busy with life, + just need something quick + delicious ⏲️. Customizable, BIG flavor, + SO satisfying. Enjoy, friends!☺️ (LINK in Bio!) #plantbased #glutenfree #stirfry A post shared by MINIMALIST BAKER (@minimalistbaker) on Mar 28, 2019 at 10:14am PDT //www.instagram.com/embed.js The best part about the
How to stick to the Mediterranean, keto, or Whole30 diets at The Cheesecake Factory
March 29, 2019 at 03:00AM by CWC Fact: Virtually everyone loves The Cheesecake Factory. It’s a family, friends, and date spot beloved by many—even Drake. That’s why there’s one at all the cool, fancy malls and the wait for dinner is usually nuts. Another fact: It has the War and Peace of menus, which is to say that it’s ginormous. The Cheesecake Factory’s menu is 21 pages and 250 items long. Besides the usual categories like salads, lunch specials, and desserts, there’s also healthy-sounding sections called “Super” Foods and Skinnylicious. The options are overwhelming enough—and if you’re following a healthy eating plan such at the Mediterranean diet, ketogenic diet, or Whole30, narrowing down what works with your needs is even more overwhelming. Well, consider this your handy little cheat sheet. To help navigate the endless menu options and zero in on the healthy ones, I enlisted integrative and functional dietitian Nour Zibdeh, RD, for help. “The main thing to keep in mind with The Cheesecake Factory that most of the meal portions on their main menu are really big, which is fine if you’re sharing with someone, but ultimately too many calories to be healthy to eat all in one sitting,” she says. “That said, there are some healthy picks on the menu, but the key is knowing what you’re going to order before you go. Otherwise, you could get overwhelmed in the moment and order something that isn’t exactly healthy.” On that note, here’s the ultimate guide for what
This new brand pairs CBD with MCT oil to make it more bioavailable to the body
March 26, 2019 at 04:00AM by CWC I don’t think a day goes by in which I don’t receive a sample or get an email about a product containing CBD. It’s for good reason, of course. Cannabidiol—or CBD for short—is a wellness ingredient that has become increasingly coveted for its anti-inflammatory, stress-reducing, and sleep-enhancing benefits. And good news on that front: According to one brand, apparently by pairing CBD together MCT oil, the ingredient becomes even more bioavailable to the body. Feals, the brand-new company (launching today!), is attempting to make CBD understandable by using only two ingredients: CBD and MCT oil. “There are two ingredients in our product: 100 percent organic MCT oil as a carrier oil, and all-natural hemp,” says the brand’s founder Drew Todd, who sources the star ingredient from organic farms in Oregon and Colorado. “Our formulation and process really ties into what we’re doing with the company, the ethos of simple is better, and less is more.” Photo: Feals In the name of simplicity, Feals’ CBD oil comes with a dropper that has easy-to-read hash marks so you know how much you’re getting. You can choose between three different strengths: 600 mg ($75), 1200 mg ($135), and 2400 mg ($245) per bottle respectively. Or, opt for Feals’ CBD Flight, a $20 buy with three vials of different oil dosages so you can figure out which is right for you. So just how do you use it and why the MCT? “MCT has medium triglycerides in
7 healthy reasons why we should all be eating more watermelon
March 25, 2019 at 08:31AM by CWC It’s officially spring (despite what my weather app tells me) which means that obviously I’m thinking ahead to summer. Summer vacations, barbecues, picnics, cocktails, the whole nine yards. And honestly, nothing sums up summer quite like watermelon. Sadly, watermelons (which, surprise, are technically berries!), have gotten a bad rap as of late with keto-devotees and others because of how sweet they are. They have to have tons of sugar in them, right? Wrong. Watermelons are actually relatively low in sugar compared to other fruits. A one-cup serving of diced watermelon has nine grams of sugar. That’s less than what you’d get from a cup of mango (23 grams), banana (18 grams), or even apples (11 grams). So let’s just nip that false rumor in the bud right now. And with that nine grams of sugar, you’re also getting a helluva lot of nutrition, too, from antioxidants to fiber and potassium. So if you ever need receipts for someone hating on your go-to summer treat, just show them this list of all of the health benefits of watermelon. Anyone else feeling vindicated? What are the health benefits of watermelon? 1. Watermelon is high in cancer-fighting lycopene: Watermelon can credit its gorgeous pink-red hue to the antioxidant lycopene. “Lycopene is an antioxidant and anti-cancer nutrient that can be consume raw and is bioavailable (useable by the body),” says Isabel Smith, MS, RD, CDN, the founder of Isabel Smith Nutrition. Of course, watermelon alone won’t safeguard
The 8-ingredient smoothie a functional medicine doctor makes every morning
March 25, 2019 at 08:16AM by CWC Smoothies are an OG healthy breakfast and an easy way to get a serving of greens first thing in the morning. (Ahh, fiber, the key to everything.) But let’s be real: sometimes they just aren’t all that filling. Functional medicine doctor Mark Hyman, MD, has definitely done his fair share of smoothie experimentation and he’s mastered the perfect mix of greens, proteins, and healthy fats that’s filling enough that won’t leave your stomach rumbling an hour after your glass is empty. Now, he’s sharing it with everyone so we can all reap the benefits. Dr. Hyman follows the pegan diet, aka the Paleo vegan diet. “A pegan diet is low-glycemic, high in plant foods, low in sugar, and includes adequate protein for appetite control and muscle synthesis,” Dr. Hyman explains. So what’s in his pegan-approved smoothie recipe he starts every day with? Eight key ingredients: almond milk, zucchini, berries, hemp seeds, chia seeds, almonds, collagen, and MCT oil. View this post on Instagram Morning routines are very important. Here is mine: I wake up, meditate for 20 minutes, make coffee with my wife, and we do this little exercise together, a conversation that’s called “What’s Up Below?” It’s basically a deeper conversation around where we are both at for the day and starts us off feeling connected. Then I usually make a little food, maybe a shake, or some pasture-raised eggs with tomatoes and olive oil, before heading to work. Smoothies are
What everyone should know before trying intermittent fasting, according to experts
March 24, 2019 at 06:00AM by CWC Unless you live under a rock, I’ll bet you have at least one friend who swears by intermittent fasting (IF). Or if you’re the kind of person who is a devoted celeb follower on IG, then you’ve definitely seen folks there talk about how much they love the buzzy eating plan, from Kourtney Kardashian to keto devotee Jenna Jameson. Basically, intermittent fasting calls for restricting eating to certain time periods within a given day or week. Some plans call for certain fasting windows (time periods where a person can and cannot eat), while others have people eating every day but some days have a lower caloric intake than others. The concept of skipping meals or limiting how much you eat at given times sounds…well, dicey. But proponents of the eating plan posit that by putting the body into a fasting state for short periods of time, people can potentially boost their metabolism, kickstart healthy weight loss, and see other intermittent fasting benefits like enhanced cognition and improved energy and mood. However, exactly how the diet works is a hot debate among researchers, says James Mitchell, Ph.D., associate professor at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, whose research focuses on dietary restriction. Many people believe that both the potential metabolic benefits and weight loss are just a result of calorie restriction (eating less overall), while again, others believe that going set periods of time without eating plays a role. And while people who