Shakshu-wha?

Shakshuka is a Middle Eastern preparation of eggs poached in a spicy tomato sauce. Adding pureed squash provides a more varied flavor perfect for fall. It also delivers an increased nutrient profile and added carbohydrates for post-workout recovery. Incorporating squash into tomato-heavy sauces is a trick I often use to decrease the acidity of the dish and deliver a slightly creamier sauce.

Conversing with the local farmers who are passionate about the foods they provide has been key to learning about new ingredients and how to prepare them. One such small-scale farmer had a basket of free-range quail eggs that I happily purchased to add to this dish based on his recommendation.

In terms of taste, quail eggs are nearly identical to chicken eggs. Nutritionally speaking, a serving of quail eggs is similar to a serving of chicken eggs, but they contain more B12 and more of the other B vitamins like riboflavin and folate. They also have more iron and slightly more protein. A strong assortment of B vitamins is critical for athletes, as the B vitamins play an important role in athletic performance.

Harvest Shakshuka With Quail Eggs

Prep time: 10 min

Cook time: 20 minutes

Yield: Serves 1-2

Ingredients:

• 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• ½ onion, diced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 spicy chilli pepper (jalapeño, serrano, anaheim), seeded and diced
• ½ red bell pepper, seeded and diced
• ½ teaspoon cumin
• ¼ teaspoon paprika
• Sprinkle fresh ground black pepper
• ⅓ cup squash puree
• 1 cup fresh made tomato sauce (or use whole peeled canned tomatoes, pureed)
• ¼ teaspoon salt (omit or add to taste if tomatoes are already salted)
• 6 quail eggs (or use 2 chicken eggs)
• Cilantro and feta cheese for garnish

Method:

1. Heat oil in a small skillet over medium-high heat.
2. Add onion, garlic, chili, and bell pepper and sauté until softened.
3. Add cumin, paprika, and black pepper and stir to combine.
4. Stir in squash puree, tomato sauce, and salt (to taste) and simmer until slightly thickened, about 10 minutes.
5. Gently crack quail eggs over sauce so they are evenly distributed.
6. Cover skillet with a lid and cook until yolks are just set, about 2-3 minutes (longer for chicken eggs).
7. Sprinkle with chopped cilantro and feta cheese.
8. Serve hot with salad, rice, or a crusty bread for dipping up sauce. This would also be great served over spiralized veggie “noodles.”

More Like This:

• 3 Mouth-Watering Post-Workout Recipes
• Southwestern Breakfast Frittata Recipe
• 2 Grain-Free Breakfast Recipes: One Savory, One Sweet
• New on Breaking Muscle Today

Photos courtesy of Kari Lund.

The post A Hearty, Seasonal One-Skillet Breakfast (or Lunch) Recipe appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Breaking Muscle receives no compensation in exchange for reviews. We received this product for free and did not experience typical customer service. The opinions expressed belong solely to the writer.

No matter which food philosophy you subscribe to, sometimes you just want to eat something fun. It might be a birthday, it might be a holiday, or it might just be your cheat day. But you don’t want to go totally off the rails. You want some cake, but still don’t want grains, gluten, and garbage.

This is where businesses like Paleo Baking Company have jumped in to fill the gap. Gone are the days of dry, heavy paleo desserts. Now, baking your own fluffy, tasty, not completely unhealthy confection is as easy as opening a mix packet and adding a few of your own kitchen staples.

Flavors available:

• Chocolate Cake and Muffin Mix
• Hazelnut Cake and Muffin Mix
• Spice Cake and Muffin Mix

All mixes are:

• Gluten free
• Grain free
• Dairy free
• Soy free
• Refined sugar free

How It Works

You might at first be underwhelmed by the fact that Paleo Baking only offers three flavors. But that would be a mistake and would entirely miss out on the magic of their product. Each one of their mixes is actually the foundation for a variety of possibilities. For example, with the hazelnut mix you can make lemon poppyseed cake, blueberry muffins, chocolate chip muffins, and more.

“There are also a few vegan recipe options for the mixes on the website, as well as a recipe for paleo bacon chocolate cake (based on the chocolate cake and muffin mix).”

The recipes for all of those are located on the Paleo Baking Company website, along with plenty of others – including frosting. Eight different types of frosting, actually. Now, the ingredients for the frosting do not come with your cake mix, of course, but what’s a cake without frosting? So it’s nice that the company provides these paleo options and ideas.

There are also a few vegan recipe options for the mixes on the website, as well as a recipe for paleo bacon chocolate cake (based on the chocolate cake and muffin mix). I just have to mention that because, really, bacon and paleo are pretty inseparable at this point, and just about anyone can appreciate a good sweet-and-savory dessert item.

Downside

The downside of these mixes is the price point. It’s not just the price of the mix, but the price of the ingredients you still need to add to get it to the finished product. One cup of coconut oil, six eggs, and one cup of honey need to be added to create the basic cake or cupcakes. If you choose to do one of the recipe variations off the website, you may need more ingredients than that.

“[D]o you want to stock your pantry with a variety of gluten-free flours and nut flours, some of which can be expensive, or would you rather have a ready-to-bake mix you can just pull out of the cupboard without too much fuss?”

But even just doing the basic cake – that much oil, eggs, and honey adds up to a pretty penny, especially if you are being picky about buying high-quality versions of those foods. That said, Paleo Baking Company does offer free shipping on all orders, no matter how few or how many mixes you buy. So maybe plan to order and eat a lot of cake and things will even out just fine? (I could be totally okay with that plan.)

Choose Your Adventure

So, the trade-off is, do you want to stock your pantry with a variety of gluten-free flours and nut flours, some of which can be expensive, or would you rather have a ready-to-bake mix you can just pull out of the cupboard without too much fuss? In essence you are trading convenience for money.

This is something we all do all the time – we just choose different moments to do it. For some people, these mixes are going to be a fantastic choice and the result will taste and look great. For others, the expense will drive them back to the grocery store to buy the elements and create from scratch. Neither choice is wrong. It’s just what you choose. Either way you end up with something tasty!

Paleo Baking Co. Cake and Muffin Mixes are available at Amazon.

More Like This:

• Why Natural Sugars Aren’t Any Better Than Artificial Sugars
• Paleo Chocolate Pumpkin Cake Recipe
• Paleo Sweets: They Might Be “Healthy” But They Might Still Be a Bad Idea

The post Delicious Paleo Desserts Made Easy appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

In these everyday victories, you progress little by little, building upon the last accomplishment. As you build character, you also figure out what you’re made of.

My Small Kitchen Victory

In my case, the small everyday victory was discovering what a dairy-free substitute for ricotta cheese could be made of. I was in the midst of making a cauliflower mash, when I peered into the pot and wondered when I had made the mistake of adding ricotta. Then I realized it was just my subconscious longing (daydreaming) for ricotta, as I haven’t been able to tolerate soft dairy for quite some time and have switched to a more paleo-ish style of eating.

Soy cheeses are often used as a dairy substitute or some create a nut cheese with soaked and pureed cashews. Both solutions can be tasty, but are not an option for anyone looking to avoid soy or who has soy or nut allergies. I wanted something more flavorful and nutritiously dense, and I was staring right at it.

Cauliflower to the Rescue

Cauliflower is the great kitchen chameleon. It can mimic rice and other textures. It also tends to take on the flavor of whatever dish you put it in, leaving just a hint of its previous life as cauliflower.

In this recipe, cauliflower is roasted and pureed with sautéed cremini mushrooms for an intense, toasty flavor that mimics the consistency of ricotta. This spreadable puree is perfect for using in a rollup smothered with a homemade tomato-basil sauce. For those of you who like a little dairy in your life, this is also amazingly tasty with the addition of manchego or parmesan to the cauli-cremini puree.

“Cauliflower is the great kitchen chameleon. It can mimic rice and other textures. It also tends to take on the flavor of whatever dish you put it in, leaving just a hint of its previous life as cauliflower.”

The key to getting the lasagna noodles to form a cute little rollup worthy of date night is to par-boil them just until they are pliable but not to the point of being soft. I used gluten-free rice noodles and also have had success using an almond flour-based lasagna noodle to make it paleo. After spreading a thin layer of cauliflower-cremini puree, roll the noodles gently. Place them in a baking dish with some space in between so they are easy to spoon onto plates for a beautiful presentation.

Cauliflower and Cremini Rollups

Prep time: 45 min

Cook time: 40 min

Yield: Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 8 lasagna noodles of any kind
• 12 ounces Italian sausage
• 2 teaspoons fennel seed
• ½ onion, diced
• 1 bell pepper, diced for topping

Cauliflower-Cremini Puree:

• 1 head cauliflower, broken into florets
• 8 ounces cremini mushrooms, diced
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil for sauté
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup broth of any kind
• 2 eggs
• ½ cup shredded manchego or parmesan cheese (optional)

Tomato-Basil Sauce:

• 28 ounce can crushed tomatoes
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 Tablespoons fresh chopped basil
• ¼ teaspoon salt

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Toss cauliflower florets with olive oil and roast in oven forty minutes, turning once halfway through roasting.
3. While cauliflower is roasting, brown the sausage with fennel and onion. Drain excess fat and set aside.
4. In a separate pan, sauté cremini mushrooms and garlic in olive oil until the mushrooms have given up most of their moisture.
5. When cauliflower is done roasting, combine it with the sautéed mushroom and garlic, salt, broth, and eggs in a blender. Puree until smooth. It should resemble the consistency of ricotta. Set aside.
6. Place lasagna noodles in boiling water and boil about four minutes. This will depend on what type of noodles you are using (rice, almond flour, whole wheat, etc). The goal is to have pliable but not soft sheets of lasagna.
7. While noodles are boiling, combine the ingredients for the tomato-basil sauce.
8. Drain the noodles and lay them out on a clean surface. Spread each one with a layer of cauliflower-cremini puree.
9. Sprinkle browned sausage over the top puree layer.
10. Gently roll up the noodles.
11. Lightly grease a 9×13 baking dish and place about a cup of sauce on the bottom.
12. Place noodle rollups in the baking dish, leaving some space between each one.
13. Ladle remaining sauce over the rollups.
14. Sprinkle with diced bell pepper, cover with foil, and bake 30-40 minutes until noodles are soft.

More Like This:

• 5 Paleo Meal Hacks to Sink Your Teeth Into
• Gardening for the Athlete: How to Get Started
• Big Batch o’ Cave(wo)man Paleo Chili
• What’s New on Breaking Muscle Today

Photo 1 courtesy of Shutterstock.

The post You’ll-Never-Miss-the-Ricotta Cauliflower and Cremini Rollups (Recipe) appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

MY STORY: How Paleo Living Helped Me Overcome Multiple Sclerosis

But despite the rewards I have received from living a conscious life, I realize it’s not for the faint of heart. One of the hardest things for me was traveling with food. Having endless containers and a separate bag for food was overkill. Fortunately, I found a simple solution: Mason jars.

Mason Jars to the Rescue

The Mason jar meal is my favorite way to eat on the go. These meals easily fit in my yoga bag and backpack. I’ve provided three of my favorite recipes below. Each recipe fits into one jar. Use a wide-mouthed jar for easy access.

“These meals taste great, and they are also nutrient-dense and look so inviting. Every time I take one out, people are jealous and curious.”

Once the ingredients are prepared, place them into the Mason jar and add your desired dressing, if you haven’t added it already. Grab your utensils and you are good to go. I have prepared jars the night before and found them to be delicious the next day, even if I apply the dressing before I store the jar in the fridge.

These meals taste great, and they are also nutrient-dense and look so inviting. Every time I take one out, people are jealous and curious. Enjoy, athletes – clean eating has never been easier!

Roasted Chicken, Brussels Sprouts, and Romaine Hearts with Lemon Garlic Dressing

Roasted Chicken

Ingredients:

• 3-4lb chicken
• ⅓ cup each of onion, carrots, and celery, chopped
• Fresh herbs of your choice (rosemary, thyme, and marjoram are my favorites)
• Salt and pepper
• 2 Tablespoons ghee

Method:

1. Set oven for 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Rinse and pat the chicken, then place it in a roasting pan.
3. Spread one tablespoon of ghee on the chicken. I keep my ghee out so it is easily spreadable, like icing.
4. Chop all the herbs except for one stalk and sprinkle them over the chicken.
5. Add the remaining stalk of each herb into the cavity, along with a handful of veggies.
6. Sprinkle remaining veggies around bird in pan with the rest of the melted ghee. Add salt and pepper to taste.
7. Cook uncovered in the oven about 20 minutes per pound or until meat thermometer reaches 165 degrees Fahrenheit.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts

Ingredients:

• 10 Brussels sprouts
• 1 Tablespoon coconut oil, melted
• Salt and pepper

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Clean and cut sprouts, mixing in melted coconut oil.
3. Place in a parchment-lined tray and sprinkle lightly with salt. Cook until the Brussels sprouts reach desired doneness – about 15 minutes for slightly charred.

Jar Assembly: Place a handful of romaine hearts in the bottom of the jar, followed by some shredded chicken, and top with Brussels sprouts. Drizzle with lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil.

Herb-Rubbed Lamb and Fresh Spinach Crudité with Balsamic Vinaigrette

Herb-Rubbed Lamb Ingredients:

• 7 lamb chops
• 5 stalks of fresh rosemary
• 1 bulb of fresh garlic, minced
• Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1. Chop lamb into individual chops.
2. Chop rosemary and minced garlic and mix them together. Add salt and pepper to taste.
3. Place the mixture on the top of each chop. The first three steps can be done ahead of time.
4. Heat a pan with fat of your choice over medium heat.
5. Place the chops in the pan, cooking for about 3 minutes each side until medium. Remove from heat.

Jar Assembly: Once the lamb is cool, assemble in the jar by adding fresh spinach and raw veggies of your choice. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil.

Minty Lamb Mini Meatballs, Broccoli Rabe, and Arugula

Lamb Meatballs

Ingredients:

• 1 pound of ground lamb
• Bunch of fresh mint
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 egg (optional)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line a cookie tray with parchment paper.
2. Place all ingredients in a bowl and mix.
3. Roll mini meatballs about the size of a quarter and place on pan.
4. Bake for 10 minutes.

Broccoli Rabe

Ingredients:

• Bunch broccoli rabe (rapini)
• 1 teaspoon garlic, minced
• 2 teaspoons ghee
• 1 lemon
• Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1. Blanche the rapini quickly in boiling water. Drain and rinse with cold water immediately.
2. Add ghee and garlic to the same pan, cooking until the garlic is golden brown.
3. Add the broccoli rabe and sautée about five minutes, mixing in the garlic and ghee with each turn.
4. Drizzle with lemon and add salt and pepper to taste.

Jar Assembly: To assemble, place the broccoli rabe on the bottom of the jar, followed by the meatballs, and top it off with fresh arugula.

Photo 1 courtesy of Shutterstock.

Photo 2-4 courtesy of PaleoBOSS Lady.

The post On-the-Go Mason Jar Meals for Busy Athletes appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

We fail to understand that weight loss is much more complicated than calorie counting. The foods we eat can actually affect our performance and here’s how.

RELATED: Don’t Count Calories to Lose Weight: The Body Fat Set Point Theory

Rest Is Not the Same as Recovery

A major piece of increasing performance that we forget about is the recovery and regeneration process. It is not all about how hard we work in the gym. Our success also banks on a combination of smart training and appropriate recovery practices. From my experiences as a strength coach, I see that most people rest, but they do not recover.

“Highly active people need to eat more nutrient-dense foods to help maximize their recovery process.”

To maximize recovery we need adequate sleep, adequate vitamin D, effective stress management techniques, and appropriate nutrition. Participating in sport or highly intense workouts does not give someone the freedom to eat whatever he or she wants. Highly active people need to eat more nutrient-dense foods to help maximize their recovery process.

Gut Health Affects Our Performance

Our intestines are a major piece of our immune system. They help control what enters our bloodstream. At times, the tight gap junctions in the intestines can loosen up and unwanted particles can enter the bloodstream. This is known as intestinal permeability.

This whole process is controlled by a hormone called zonulin. When zonulin levels increase, then the tight gap junctions of our intestines loosen up and particles enter the bloodstream. This causes our immune system to react and launch an immune response. This immune response can lead to alterations in mood, difficulty losing weight, gastrointestinal disorders, and over 200 different autoimmune diseases. Focusing on our gut health is important for overall health, as well as for performance.

RELATED: Gluten Gone Wild: What Is It & What Is It Doing to Our Guts?

Strenuous activity can actually increase intestinal permeability.¹ In fact, all types of stress can increase intestinal permeability. This includes psychological, pathological, physiological, and pharmacological stresses. This means our mood, disease state, medications, and our body’s own physiology, which is altered under strenuous exercise states.² All of these factors play a critical role in recovery. And the better we recover from workouts, the harder we can hit it the next time in the gym.

RELATED: Stress Shown to Impair Recovery From Workouts

A Chronic State of Inflammation

Certain foods can also interfere with our performance and recovery. Cereal grains, such as wheat, have been shown to increase intestinal permeability.³ Dr. Alessio Fassano out of the University of Maryland has done some fantastic research on how foods interact with our intestinal barrier and their effects on the hormone zonulin. To put two and two together, if we are working out at high intensities and we are eating like crap, then we are going to be in a chronic state of inflammation.

How can we expect to recover and continue to perform at high levels in this type of scenario? If we are chronically inflamed, then our testosterone levels won’t peak and it will take longer to recover from workouts. This means that the next time we try to crush it in the gym, we may be able to only give 90% of our max effort, even when it feels like we are giving 100%. In the long run, this is a big deal to overall performance.

“To put two and two together, if we are working out at high intensities and we are eating like crap, then we are going to be in a chronic state of inflammation.”

Taking a probiotic may be one way to help us toward our performance goals. Not many research studies have been done on this topic, but the few that have showed probiotics may increase athletic performance through increased recovery and improved immune response.^{3 These positive studies show that our gut health is important not only for our overall health, but also for our training. (For more on this, Dr. Berardi did a good write-up regarding probiotic supplementation and performance.)}

Summary

To best increase our gut health, we need to supply our beneficial gut bacteria with the right foods. A diet high in nutrient-rich veggies, fruits, meats, fish, eggs, and healthy fats can allow our beneficial gut flora to flourish.

RELATED: Gut Bacteria and Obesity – A Hidden Connection?

You may be asking how you can fuel those strenuous workouts by eating the foods listed above. Don’t forget our good starches, such as yams, sweet potatoes, and white potatoes. These foods not only contain the carbohydrates necessary for energy, but also fuel for our beneficial gut flora.

If you are working out strenuously, try changing up your diet to include more nutrient-dense foods. You should notice an increase in energy and recovery to go along with all of the positive health benefits of a nutrient-rich diet.

References:

1. Davis, M, et.al., “Sustained Strenuous Exercise Increases Intestinal Permeability in Racing Alaskan Sled Dogs.” Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine 2008. Retrieved on November 9, 2014. 

2. Lambert, G.P. “Stress-induced gastrointestinal barrier dysfunction and its inflammatory effects.” Journal of Animal Science 2008. Retrieved on November 11, 2014. 

3. de Punder, K., et al. “The Dietary Intake of Wheat and Other Cereal Grains and Their Role in Inflammation.” Nutrients 2013. Retrieved on November 9, 2014.

4. Nichols, A. “Probiotics and athletic performance: A systematic review.” Current Sports Medicine Reports 2007. Retrieved on November 9, 2014. 

Photos courtesy of Shutterstock.

The post The Pivotal Role Food Plays in Your (Lack of) Performance appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Finding a nutrition snack bar for pre- or post-workout is one thing, but what about finding one that is also socially responsible and donates a portion of their profits to children in need? Well, now we have NOURI bar, which does both.

The company name, NOURI, is short for “nourishment.” The company started when two Princeton grads wanted to use their talents to do more for the world. They created NOURI bar, a food bar that is nutritious, delicious, and good for children in need. I recently got to try some NOURI bars, and I enjoyed them.

My Experience

I tried two of the three NOURI bar flavors:

• Super Delicious Apple Cinnamon Spice Bar: The base for this bar is dates, which provide the main portion of the bar’s volume and sweetness. The next ingredient is six grams of hemp protein. To round out the bar, apples and some other flavoring and sweetening agents like cinnamon and agave are added. The bar is soft, and the cinnamon and apple flavors come together nicely in what tastes like a great addition to breakfast.

• By Far the Best Chocolate and Creamy Cashew Bar: The base of this bar is the same as the Apple Cinnamon bar, dates and hemp protein. This bar is also sweetened further by organic agave nectar and flavored by vanilla. With the additions of organic cashews and cashew butter you get a soft, mild nuttiness that complements the dark chocolate chips well. Yes, that’s right, there are soft and creamy dark chocolate chips throughout the bar as well. Because of the dates there’s still a fruitiness to this bar, but I still loved the mild cashew and dark chocolate flavors that went along with it.

The bars are quite delicious, and you can’t go wrong with any of the flavors. That said, because they contain dried fruit and agave nectar, these bars are not suitable for those with metabolic syndromes like diabetes.

Social Responsibility

In addition to providing delicious bars, NOURI is also on a mission of social responsibility. In fact, NOURI donates a portion of its sales to charities the company has partnered with and believes in. The focus of these charities is to provide food to children in need so they can perform better in school and have a better outlook on the future. Note, that’s a portion of the sales, not the profits. Nouri provides the meals even in cases where they have not made a profit on the bar.

The impact of purchasing these bars is substantial. According to their website, so far in 2014, NOURI has provided charitable contributions that have amounted to 18,538 meals for hungry children. These children live in impoverished locations around the world, such as Botswana, Kenya, Guatemala, and the Philippines. Some of the children who NOURI serves are in the United States, as well.

The company goal for 2014 is loftier still. They are shooting for 100,000 meals this year. Let’s help them get there.

NOURI bars are available for $29.99 for a box of nine bars at NOURIBar.com.

The post NOURI Bars (Product Review) appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

What Are Endorphins?

Our endorphins are neurotransmitters that help us deal with physical and emotional pain. When runners remark that they run to feel the “runner’s high,” they are experiencing endorphins. The feel-good feeling after exercise is caused by endorphins, and stories of military veterans being shot and not even knowing it are due to our endorphins, as well. Without our endorphins every little emotional and physical bump in the road would be catastrophic.

These neurotransmitters are also known as opioid peptides, and they are produced by the central nervous system and the pituitary glands. Drugs such as morphine and heroine act upon these pathways to elicit their numbing feeling. Foods can also elicit a response from these same mechanisms.

The Science and Substances Behind Our Food Cravings

How this response mechanism works is not entirely understood, but we do know that opioid peptides play a strong role in food intake. Studies have suggested that alterations in opioid peptide activity leads to increased food cravings.¹ We can examine this theory by breaking down the scenario of the girl breaking up with her boyfriend in the TV sitcom. She goes through an emotional event that alters her opioid peptide activity. This then induces food cravings. When we crave food do we crave kale or do we crave something more palatable such as ice cream and sweets?

It does not just take an emotional life event to alter our endorphins. Sleep deprivation can do that for us. How many of you get seven to nine hours of uninterrupted sleep a night in a completely blacked out room? As a society we are chronically sleep deprived. Loss of rapid eye movement (REM) stage in sleep pattern increases our beta-endorphins.² Beta-endorphins rise during sleep to help us stay asleep and also possibly to provide us with protection in a disadvantageous state.³ Therefore, an inadequate sleep cycle could be the driving force of your food cravings.

Neurotransmitters and Sugar Addiction

When we get a prolonged elevated response of any hormone or neurotransmitter in the body the cells down regulate and desensitize to it. The same can happen with our endorphins. According to Dr. Kenneth Blum’s Reward Deficiency Syndrome any substance or activity that balances out our biochemistry will cause us to become addicted to it. If we develop endorphin resistance, there may be enough in our system, but the cells are not hearing their signal. Our body will then think we are low in endorphins. We eat a bowl of ice cream or a sweet snack and we become addicted to that food. Studies have shown that sugar has “opiate-like” effects on our brains that are similar to the effects of heroin and morphine.⁴ Just like with drugs, we eat that high-sugar meal, get that high, and we become addicted.

We can develop endorphin resistance from eating too much sugar since the high-sugar meal increases endorphin levels the same way that drugs do. We desensitize to their signal due to the high levels and we are hooked. The first foods we introduce to babies are grains and dairy. Grains and dairy both elicit a response from our opioid peptides.^5,6

Endorphins and Body Fat

Our endorphins also play a major role in our stress response. Not only do they help with physical and emotional pain during stress, but they also release our stored fat into the blood for usable energy. If we develop resistance to our endorphins, then our fat cells will not hear the message to release stored fat. Our body will then produce more endorphins to get the response it needs. Over time this can lead to our entire opioid peptide activity being decreased leading to increased cravings.

Also, during times of stress, our sympathetic nervous system decreases leptin levels.⁷ Leptin is our major satiety and fat storage hormone. Low leptin levels tells our body to keep eating and keep storing fat. This leads to a scenario where we can have chronically low leptin levels and chronically high endorphin levels. This sets up a scenario to be really good at overeating and storing fat, and really bad at releasing that fat. Ever watch your caloric intake and exercised, but could not lose weight or even gained weight? This is the likely scenario for you.

How to Curtail Food Cravings

I hope in reading this you realize there are a number of different mechanisms that can negatively affect our food cravings. Sleep, stress, and high sugar diets can all play a role in us gaining weight. In order to control our cravings and in turn our health we need to make sure we are getting seven to nine hours of uninterrupted sleep a night in a completely blacked out room, manage our stress, and eat real foods. The more positive lifestyle behaviors we take part in the better off we will be.

1. Mercer, ME., and Holder, MD., “Food cravings, endogenous opioid peptides, and food intake: a review.” Appetite (1997). Retrieved on May 10, 2014.

2. Przewlocka, B., et.al., “Deprivation of REM sleep in the rat and the opioid peptides beta-endorphin and dynorphin.” Neuroscience Letters (1986). Retrieved on May 10, 2014.

3. Wilson, L., and Dorosz. L., “Possible role of the opioid peptides in sleep.” Medical Hypotheses (1984). Retrieved on May 10, 2014.

4. Spangler, R, et.al., “Opiate-like effects of sugar on gene expression in reward areas of the rat brain.” Brain Research: Molecular Brain Research (2004). Retrieved on May 10, 2014.

5. Fukudome S., and Yoshikawa, M., “Opioid peptides derived from wheat gluten: Their isolation and characterization.” FEBS Letters (1992). Retrieved on May 10, 2014.

6. Fiat, AM., et.al., “Biologically Active Peptides from Milk Proteins with Emphasis on Two Examples Concerning Antithrombotic and Immunomodulating Activities.” Journal of Dairy Science (1993). Retrieved on May 10, 2014.

7. Rayner, DV., and Trayhurn, P., “Regulation of leptin production: sympathetic nervous system interactions.” Journal of Molecular Medicine (2001). Retrieved on May 10, 2014.

Photos courtesy of Shutterstock.

The post The Science and Substance Behind Your Emotional Eating appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Attention granola lovers! I’ve got something for you to check out called Ladera Granola. I’m a bit of a granola enthusiast, and have made it myself a few times. Normally homemade stuff is greatly superior to the store-bought variety, but I recently tried some Ladera Granola and I’ve got a serious contender on my hands.

Ladera was started by a mother and son team out of Ladera, California. Brian’s mother was known in their community for her delicious granola, which inspired him to take its production to the next level. But Brian and team don’t just make granola. They are also passionate about healthy living, good business practices, and the environment. Their packaging is recyclable and their ingredients are natural and locally sourced when possible.

Texture and Flavor

The granola is crunchy, but not hard. It doesn’t stick in your teeth and is easy to eat. The flavor is a warm, earthy sweetness provided by the maple syrup, brown sugar, and spices, combined with the taste of oats, pecans, and almonds. The flavor is all brought together in the mouth with the contribution of olive oil and the healthy fats from the nuts, then enhanced by just a touch of salt.

Nutrition Facts

Ladera Granola is slow roasted at low temperatures to ensure consistency and flavor and to preserve the nutrition. Each quarter cup serving provides nine grams of fat, three grams of fiber, four grams of protein, and only four grams of sugar and 25mg of salt. Considering the delicious sweet flavor, the low sugar content will come as a surprise. You won’t find a better nutrition profile on granola with flavor like this one.

The nutrition present in Ladera make it a great addition to any athlete’s snack list, as well. If you need some energy and protein post-workout or between workouts, Ladera Granola would be a great addition to your protein shake or smoothie, or you can eat it all by itself.

Price Tag

The only con I could come up with for Ladera was the price. They certainly have not priced themselves out of the market by any means, but if you eat a lot of granola (and you will if you get some Ladera), it can get expensive. For similar high-quality natural granola, you’ll find similar prices, so bear in mind that with granola you get what you pay for. If you go a cheaper route, you’ll get cheaper “nutrition.”

Ladera Granola is great any way you like your granola. It’s delicious by itself, with milk as a cereal, and with yogurt. If you’re a granola fan, this stuff is definitely worth checking out.

Ladera Granola is available for $8.99 for a 12oz bag at LaderaGranola.com.

The post Ladera Granola (Product Review) appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

While I think most people agree that whole foods are the best option for snacking and post-workout protein meals, some people opt for convenience. When time is short, we’ve all probably reached for something like a protein shake that might be more processed than we’d like. However, it never hurts to have a convenient option on hand that is also whole food.

Enter the About Time Fruit, Nuts & Protein Bars. I recently got the chance to try these tasty whole food protein bars and used them primarily as post-workout snacks. The bars are fruit- and nut-based and only contain six ingredients. They contain added egg white protein to bring the protein content per bar to 11g, giving them that whole food bar feel with a bit of a protein boost. The bars are fairly small, so it’s actually a decent amount of protein per bar. They are also dairy-free and gluten-free.

Since these bars are of the whole food type, there are no surprises when it comes to taste. No strange, chemical-flavored weirdness when you bite into them, just the flavors of fruit and nuts. As far as consistency goes, you won’t feel curious about how they managed to get the bar that shape or that hard, like you do with many bars. The bar is soft, moist, and easy to eat. It tastes exactly the way you’d think it should taste – like food.

The protein of some whole food bars is plant-based, but the added egg white protein in these bars is a great way to boost and balance the protein without compromising flavor. By contrast, many of the bars and shakes we often consume increase the degree of processing to try to get those strange tasting additives to taste just a little less strange. The About Time bar is also a good source of fiber, with 5g per bar.

My only reservation about these bars is the sugar content. With 20g of sugar per bar, it’s not for diabetics. With nearly a 2:1 carb-to-protein ratio, some people will prefer these bars as a post-workout snack, alhtough most of the current research on post-workout carb and protein ratios have shown that it matters less than we used to think. As such, for people who don’t want the extra sugar in their diets, sweeter foods like this might best be avoided.

Besides that, I enjoyed the About Time bars. I kept them with me to snack on during the drive home from the gym and found they kept me going until I could get a meal in. They also gave me some extra protein and nutrients from fruit, nuts, and egg whites to help my recovery. If you’re looking for a whole food bar with an egg white protein boost that isn’t hard, overly chewy, and full of chemicals, the About Time bar is exactly what you want.

About Time Fruit, Nut & Protein Bars are available for $2.99 each or $35.99 for a box of 12 at TryAboutTime.com.

The post Product Review: About Time Fruit, Nuts & Protein Bars appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

How do you avoid this embarrassing situation? Raise your food yourself. In our desire to get in touch with our food without losing our sanity like this unfortunate couple, when my husband and I moved to a new house a year ago we started to strategize about the most cost-efficient and sustainable ways we could do so. Since we don’t have a big backyard, the most obvious choice was to buy chickens.

Like many active people out there, our family eats a lot of eggs. We go through at least two dozen a week, if not three or four. That’s fine if you don’t care about the quality of your eggs. You can get several dozen eggs at Walmart for about six bucks where we live. And that’s exactly what we did, until a few years ago when we started learning about where those eggs come from.

Rather than blabbering on and on about why we developed an aversion to conventional eggs, here’s a short video of one minute in the life of your typical conventionally raised hen:

Without knowing the way chickens normally live, you might not be that disturbed by this video. Sure, she looks a little cramped and uncomfortable, but you have to feed the world, right? And who knows, maybe this is just one of the particularly bad minutes in the day and the rest of the day the hen is happy. To me, there’s one telltale sign that this is the way this hen must spend the majority of her time. Have a look at poor battery hen’s neck:

Now compare that to this hen’s neck (I’m not an expert, but I think they might even be the same breed):

The second neck belongs to our Cinnamon Queen, Canela. Notice: you can’t see it. All you see is magnificent plumage. A chicken’s feathers speak volumes about its health and living conditions. Chicken #1 has a feather deficiency, and that doesn’t stop with plumage. According to a 2007 study, this is how eggs from free range chickens compare to conventionally raised eggs:

• ⅓ less cholesterol
• ¼ less saturated fat
• ⅔ more vitamin A
• 2 times more omega-3 fatty acids
• 3 times more vitamin E
• 7 times more beta-carotene

Learning these and other things about the current state of factory chickens made us want to take action. For a long time, our family’s solution was to buy local eggs at the farmer’s market. However, we also happen to be on a tight grocery budget, and $6 a dozen is a little steep when we have to buy two or three dozen eggs each week. We decided we were just going to buy our own chickens and raise our own protein in the meantime.

And so, a few months ago, my husband made me a chicken coop for a birthday present and we brought our hens home. I was a little worried they would be too much work and take too much time, but think I will always want to keep chickens. Not only are they fun and pretty low-maintenance, but we know exactly what our hens eat, how much open air they get every day, and what kind of conditions they live in. However, there have been challenges along the way. If you’re considering keeping chickens, here is some advice for getting started from someone who is also a beginner:

1. Buy Breeds That Are a Good Fit For Your Area

Just like gardening, one of the most important first steps in raising chickens is researching the breeds that will work best for you and your needs. Some chicken breeds are broodier than others. Other breeds might be intended for meat and aren’t the best layers. Keep in mind you don’t have to only raise one breed, so you can experiment with a few different kinds of chickens and see if there is any noticeable difference between them.

2. Location, Location, Location

Plan the location of your coop carefully. Consider the elements – does this area of the yard get a lot of intense sun? If so, you will need to provide a source of shade. You will also want to research the zoning requirements in your area. Some zoning laws require chickens to be a certain number of feet from the nearest dwelling, so be sure you have enough room for a coop and a run where your chickens can run free and roll around in the dirt during the day.

3. Don’t Forget the Fruits and Veggies

We notice a dramatic difference in our hens’ laying frequency when they have a lot of fresh greens. Since our coop is on dirt, our hens don’t have access to grass unless we let them out of the run, so we make sure to give them lots of leafy greens and chopped grass several times a day. One of the great things about chickens is they go a long way in minimizing kitchen waste. You can give them pretty much any fruit or vegetable you would eat. Our hens are big fans of watermelon, strawberries, and bell peppers.

4. Seek Out Local Resources

On day three of our recent two-week vacation, the guy who was caring for our chickens texted us to tell us that two of our hens hadn’t made it through the hottest day of the summer (119 degrees). It was discouraging and we felt like bad chicken parents. However, it was reassuring to see a Facebook post later that day by a local permaculture group saying that they had had multiple emails from other people in Phoenix saying their chicken and quail were dropping like flies. The organization also posted a video of a few things you can do to keep your chickens cool in intense heat. Find a local resource or group of people who can provide advice and recommendations that are specific to issues in your particular area.

5. Protect Your Plants

If you happen to also be a gardener and plan to allow your chickens to roam free, protect your plants because the hens will eat them. A few days after we got our hens, I decided to just let them roam around on the grassy part of our yard for awhile. After about 5 minutes I came out to find this:

They had taken some large bites out of my kale, eaten about 20 cucumbers, destroyed my beautiful heirloom tomatoes (which were just on the verge of being ripe), demolished my bell pepper plants, and had a scratching fit right over my oregano plant. If you plan to let your chickens roam and have gardens that are at all accessible, use netting to cover your plants.

The biggest lesson I think I’ve learned while raising chickens is that if you want real food, you have to deal with real life. I’m not going to sit here and tell you that cleaning a chicken coop is pleasant or that your chickens will never get sick. It’s not, and they will, and that’s all a part of it. I read this article about the record number of chickens that are being abandoned when their owners realize that keeping chickens isn’t always romantic and nostalgic. If you’re not prepared to deal with smells, dirt, work, and the prospect that your chickens might get sick or even die, you might want to hold off on the backyard homestead stuff.

If you are prepared to deal with challenges and also attracted to the idea of raising your own food, don’t let those factors intimidate you. Not only are chickens nice for practical reasons, but they’re also great pets. And if you do decide to use your chickens for meat, you will be able to rest assured that they lived happy lives and had beautiful necks.

The post Backyard Protein: An Urbanite’s Guide to Raising Chickens appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

As long as I am exposed to incredible products and brands like Cocomo Joe, I’ll continue to have the world’s best job. As a consumer, I’ve seen Joe Bars around more and more of the places I frequent, such as health food stores, gyms, and community events. This was the first time, however, that I took the plunge and tried what Joe Bars had to offer.

With a strong foundation of coconut-based ingredients, Joebar almost couldn’t go wrong in my eyes. I happen to lean heavily on coconut products in my nutrition practices – coconut oil, coconut butter, raw coconut, and so on. I believe strongly in what coconuts have to offer with regards to quality dietary fat, taste, and what I’ll call “snackability.”

Joebars build off this coconut base with a multitude of different flavors from all natural ingredients. The Joebar spectrum of flavors includes: cocoa, coffee, cranberry, fig, green (spirulina), and mango. My personal favorite was the fig bar. Maybe my special interest in the fig bar especially was due, in part, to the fact I didn’t know they made it, and I haven’t seen anyone produce a flavor like it.

It seems as though the health food bar market is largely based around fruits and nuts, with the common glue that keeps it all together being dates or something artificial. Even my beloved Larabar fits that exact model. Joebar breaks away from that mold with this shredded coconut base. Of course, there’s probably good reason most companies choose a similar formula in that it works. Joebar, however, has capitalized on being different without the consequences of being brittle or dry. These coconut-based products are surprisingly soft, chewy, and tasty.

As far as ingredients go, Joebars are simple and largely organic. Consumers can rest assured they don’t need to have a master’s in biology to read the label. The mango Joebar’s ingredient list, for example,includes: organic coconut, organic walnuts, organic raw coconut nectar, organic raw mango, organic chia seeds, organic raw maca root powder, organic raw virgin coconut oil, and organic cold pressed vanilla extract.

I loved Joebars and swiftly ate through my stash. I think this is a real winner from product quality to market positioning. Even the branding is crisp and fun. Hats off to the folks at Cocomo Joe.

Joebars are available at cocomojoefoods.com for $36.00 per box (12 count).

The post Product Review: Joebar by Cocomo Joe appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

I pulled up to a neat, one story house tucked away in a bedroom community of the San Fernando Valley. A rectangle of grass lay before the front door like an area carpet, and a woman with exploding white hair and a housecoat stepped onto the porch waving a frail hand toward the backyard. Paula, a pick leader from Food Forward, was unloading long poles attached to oblong cages from her car. She waved back and smiled.

We were there as volunteers representing the non-profit Food Forward to harvest a pink grapefruit tree that stood fifteen feet tall in the older woman’s backyard. The tree was too big for the woman to handle herself. In past seasons, most of the fruit had fallen to the ground to rot. Sure enough the tree was dotted with a good amount of yellow-pinkish fruit. There were many green spheres, too, that would be ready next spring. Paula and I ran the caged poles up the branches and twisted off the ready ones, plopping them into a cardboard box until it was stuffed with beautiful ripe fruit. The bright tang of their scent now swirled through the yard.

The significance of the pick was not just that we had helped the woman glean her tree – which was certainly helpful in itself – but the two full boxes we had gathered from the one tree would be delivered to a food bank or food pantry for immediate use by families or individuals in need – recipients who are often short on sources of fresh food.

This is the simple, brilliant premise behind Food Forward: locally grown food from private homes and public spaces is harvested for the hungry. Fresh food sustainability, urban hunger issues, and food waste are all addressed with one thoughtful connection.

Before Rick Nahmias officially founded Food Forward in 2009, he often walked his dog in his own neighborhood in the valley and noticed the details. He is a photographer and art is often discovered in the details. The most needling observation he made however was the rotting tangerines that had fallen from a neighbor’s tree and littered the sidewalk. He had the idea to rescue the fruit. Rick asked the neighbor if he could pick the tree to donate the tangerines to a food bank. With that first pick, he harvested eighty-five pounds of fruit and immediately delivered it to SOVA, the nearest food pantry.

Food Forward now distributes fresh food to thirty agencies, large and small, across Los Angeles County, from SOVA and MEND to smaller soup kitchens. Food Forward is almost all volunteer-powered and has two thousand active volunteers. There is an integral partnership between those giving their time to harvest and those who have registered their trees to be gleaned. Hundreds of properties are registered in the San Fernando Valley and now Ventura County from single-tree properties to orchards. Their largest location is the orange grove of California State University at Northridge where once a year, with the help of CSUN students, they yield over two thousand pounds of Valencia oranges.

Interestingly, not many properties are registered on the west side of Los Angeles. “Private properties in the valley are typically bigger and have a long history of trees on properties,” said Meg Glasser the managing director of Food Forward. “We are always looking for more places on the west side.”

Meg also manages Food Forward’s CAN IT! program, which is a series of food preserving workshops meant to address sustainability and food waste. The four half-day workshops focus on gourmet jamming, goat cheese-making, backyard orchard care, and raising chickens. The workshops are a fundraising effort as are the preserved Meyer lemons sold on the website.

Food Forward’s latest program is the Farmer’s Market Recovery Program, which launched just this last week. The program works to collect unsold produce from local farmers markets and distribute it to hunger relief agencies around Los Angeles. Already involved are farmers who sell at the Wednesday Santa Monica market, the Sunday Studio City Farmers Market and the Sunday Atwater Village Farmers Market.

This past Saturday, Food Forward harvested its one millionth pound of food; one million pounds from the community for the community. Those one million pounds translate to four million servings of fresh food that would have otherwise gone to waste but instead nourished those in need. Food Forward has taken a simple idea and turned it into an efficient and impactful program. They have mainly harvested the idea that our most basic untapped resources are often right under our noses, and they can make a huge difference in the health of our communities.

For those of you in Southern California, find out more about volunteering or registering a property by visiting the Food Forward website. Similar programs exist in cities across the country.

The post Food Forward: How Backyard Harvesting Feeds the Hungry appeared first on Breaking Muscle.