TMG athlete Mitch Gillis advances to the final stage of PGA Tour Q-school

The Metabolic Gastronomer is proud to announce that professional golfer Mitch Gillis has successful played through to the final stage of PGA Tour Q-school. Mitch’s hard work, determination and attention to detail has allowed him to experience a great deal of success around the world and now he is now in a great position to reap the rewards of his efforts.

Keep up the great work Mitch; you’re an inspiration to rest of us.

 

TMG

 

 

The Grocery Bill Challenge!

Illustrated above are the items I've recently gathered at my local grocery store. Sure these ingredients/foods are healthy and nutritous but were they affordable? Be the first to guess the total cost of my groceries within a dollar and you will win $100 worth of nutritional consulting from TMG.

Still not convinced that healthy eating can be affordable? Take the Grocery Bill Challenge. Not only will you be amazed by how affordable groceries like those illustrated above can be, but the first person to guess the total cost of my groceries within a dollar will win $100 worth of nutritional consulting from TMG. All the best and good luck!

Saturday Grocery list:

5 bananas (used in lean, green smoothies)

1.25 ib of lean ground turkey (great for meatloaf and omelettes)

1.5 ib of lean turkey sausages (delicious anytime of the day)

2 bags of frozen chopped broccoli (stir frys, veggie stews, etc.)

2 bags of frozen green beans (essential for curried green beans, and green bean casserole)

1 bag of frozen broccoli and cauliflower (great side dish with mixed with low-fat cheddar cheese)

1 bag of frozen italian-style vegetables (great with homemade marinara sauce in pasta or as a side dish)

2 bags of california vegetables (great with homemade marinara sauce in pasta or as a side dish)

1 box of low-sugar, low-fat ice cream treats (essential life raft for glucophile wife)

1 packet of fat-free cheddar cheese (great in omelettes)

10 individual containers of lo-carbohydrate yogurt (for shakes and as a quick snack)

1 bag of fresh spinach (key ingredient in lean, green smoothies)

1 small container of hummus (dip for fresh cucumber spears)

1 small container of fat-free cottage cheese (generally mixed with yogurt and slivered almonds or shredded coconut)

2 cucumbers (great snack with hummus)

5 dozen eggs (the king of the breakfast foods)

2 containers of unsweetened almond milk (delicious alternative to regular milk; great with cocoa and frozen cherries)

1 can of no-sugar-added peaches (for cottage cheese)

1 can of no-sugar added pears (for cottage cheese)

1 small jug of sugar-free green tea

1 small jug of 1% mf milk

Living with a Glucophile: Planning, Compromise, and Trickery.

Pronunciation: gloo-co-file. Definition: v. To enjoy, or derive physical pleasure from, the eating of sweets and other sugared substances -- often leads to over-consumption. n. Pleasure derived from the consumption of sweets. Sentence: Robert's such a glucophile; he ate that entire box of candy, and washed it down with a litre of chocolate syrup. www.verbotomy.com/

 The glucophile (lover of sugary treats). We all know one: the guys who rides the bus with you, the chick who sits 2 cubes down from you, or maybe your overindulgent grandmother. The truth of the matter is, I personally know hundreds of vowed glucophiles , one of which happens to be the woman I love and live with. So how do you handle a glucophile with dignity and respect without being sucked into their sugar-loving vortex? It is certainly a challenge but then again things that come easy, aren’t generally worth doing. With some intelligent planning, practical compromise and some clever trickery, you can have a functional relationship with a glucophile while staying dialed in with your nutrition.

Planning: When preparing a nice meal for you and your significant glucophile, make sure that you serve a meal that is both high in low-carbohydrate vegetables and lean proteins. In a way this goes hand-in-hand with trickery in that you are trying to have your glucophile fill up on quality foods, leaving no room for dessert. For example by having a light salad with small remnants of grilled chicken breast on top, you are leaving the door wide open for an appointment with Dr. Haagen Dazs (Dr. because many carbophiles resort to the therapeutic comforts of frozen cream and sugar as a form of relaxation, much like seeing a psychiatrist). To attenuate the desire for dessert, perpare a “big boy” dinner like a plateful of steamed mixed veggies with a nice piece of grilled salmon. Not only with your carbophile (lover of sugars and starches) be ingesting healthy fats, protein and dietary fiber, but he/she will also think twice about cramming in dessert.

Compromise: If your carbophile battles through dinner and still wishes to scale a bowl of ice cream comparable to the peaks of Mt. Everest, then its time to compromise. Luckily there are many healthy dessert alternatives that are available to be enjoyed in situations like these. No-sugar-added ice cream treats are a fantastic way to comprise, as are fruit-based desserts. For example enjoying a small piece of angel food cake topped with sliced strawberries and sugar-free whipped cream (~200 calories, 30g carbohydrates) is far better than a sturdy wedge of fudge cheesecake topped with double chocolate chip brownie ice cream (~enough caloric fuel to support a half marathon and yes I’ve seen it happen). 

Trickery: Sometimes you just need to get tricky. For example if you get a personal request to make spaghetti and meatballs for dinner you say “Yes, that sounds great!”, while immediately coming up with a clever emulation of the original starch/sugar ridden request. In this particular case, I would make the noodles out of carefully sliceds zuchinni and carrots in addition to making the sauce from scratch (easy to do, no added sugar). Upon tasting the new remix, your carbophile will not care to notice the difference as it will be just as, if not more, delicious as the original(not to mention substantially lower in unwanted carbohydrates).

I hope you learn to use these simple tips to your advantage and may the force be with you.

>>>>>TMG

Dark Chocolate and Cherries Anyone?

Dark chocolate cherry cordials are rich and decadent. Unfortunately these sweet treats are loaded with refined sugars and weird corn-based syrups. TMG has a flavorful alternative that is rich in antioxidants and low in sugar.

 Building on yesterday’s post regarding inflammation and its role in the development of atherosclerosis (amongst other malignant pathologies), I’d like to briefly discuss the importance of antioxidants in addition to highlighting antioxidant-rich foods. Loads of experimental data are indicating that oxidized LDL within the arterial walls is a major contributing factor to the development of atherogenesis, the formation of plaque along the inner lining of  arteries (Berliner, J. A. & Watson, A. D. N. Engl. J. Med. 353, 9–11 2005, Steinberg, D. J. Lipid. Res. 50, S376–S381 2009, Steinberg, D. & Witztum, J. L.  Arterioscler. Thromb. Vasc. Biol. 30, 2311–2316 2010). Events associated with oxidative stress (subject of subsequent posts) are also implicated in a number of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimers and Parkington’s Disease, in which large scale protein aggregation results in the formation of protein fibrils in the brain. Multiple studies are now utilizing the powerful antioxidant curcumin, derived from the Tumeric spice, as a protective agent against abherrent oxidative stress (Pal R, Miranda M, Narayan M. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2011 Jan 7;404(1):324-9, Gonzalez V, Pal R, Narayan M. Biochemistry. 2010 Jul 27;49(29):6282-9.)

 

What we can learn from these studies is that antioxidants, whether is be curcumin or Vitamin E (just to name a few), are extremely powerful compounds that can help us stay healthy and avoid disease. This is best exemplified by an extremely low incidence of neurodegenerative diseases in highly populated country of India where the people cook with a lot of spices and vegetables that are rich in antioxidants (Zhang C, Browne A, Child D, Tanzi RE. J Biol Chem. 2010 Sep 10;285(37):28472-80, Gupta SK, Kumar B, Nag TC, Agrawal SS, Agrawal R, Agrawal P, Saxena R, Srivastava S. J Ocul Pharmacol Ther. 2011 Apr;27(2):123-30).

 

What if you could get our daily dose of antioxidants from a quick-to-make delicious treat? Wouldn’t that be great? Introducing the dark chocolate cherry cream shake. Blend together 2 cups of unsweetened almond milk, 1 cups of no-sugar-added cherry yogurt, 1 large handful of frozen dark cherries (pitted), 2 tbsp of pure cocoa powder, a small handful of unsalted cashews, a dash of cinnamon and 2 packets of splenda. Collectively this shake is LOADED with powerful antioxidants coming from almost all of the ingredients (except the splenda). The shake also contains a fair amount of protein and unsaturated fats from the yogurt and nut products, respectively. Interestingly the carbohydrates derived from the cherries are extremely low glycemic (22 on a scale of 0 to 100) and are extremely high in digestive fiber. The best part about this decadant treat is that it can be enjoyed at anytime in the day and you can have the peace of mind knowing that this dessert is doing your body a world of good.

 

 

Enjoy,

 

 

 

 

 

>>>>TMG

Inflammation Strikes Again

The intersection of inflammation and lipid metabolism modulates atherosclerosis and provides potential targets for therapeutic manipulation (Libby, P. et al. 2011, Nature 473, 317-325).

As the evidence continues to pile up, the roles that inflammation play in the development of malignant pathologies are becoming increasingly more clear. For example in recent article of Cell, scientists elucidate how a hormonal signalling cascade associated with the oestrogen receptor can  regulate neurodegenerative and autoimmune diseases by way of stimulating an anti-inflammatory response (Cell 2011 145, 584-595). Interestingly the authors discover a natural steroid, ADIOL, that activates the aforementioned cascade to protect mice from a condition similar to multiple sclerosis.

 

Inflammation has also been implicated in the progression of atherogenesis; the development of atheromatous plaques in the inner linings of the arteries (see figure above). The process through which inflammation can lead to eventual atherosclerosis is an extremely complex series of events, largely mediated by the interplay between the immune system and cholesterol (LDLs in particular).

 

But what does this mean in a nutritional context?

 

In addition to avoiding pro-inflammatory saturated fats that are generally associated with LDLs, mono- and poly-unsaturated fats should be enjoyed as protective agents of cardiovascular health. For example omega-3 fatty acids, found in fish, mollusks and eggs, help mute inflammation and impair platelet aggregability in conjunction with lowering blood triglyceride levels (Siscovick, D.S. et al. 2003. Circulation 107, 2632-2634). Collectively the ingestion of healthy unsaturated fat can go a long way to battling the potential occurrence for diseases linked to inflammation. Next time you enjoy a nice piece of grilled salmon accompanied by steamed vegetables, please can take comfort in knowing that what you are eating is not only delicious but it is also nutritious at the histological, cytological and molecular levels.

 

 

Cheers,

 

 

 

 

 

>>>>>TMG

Healthy eating doesn’t have to be expensive

Enjoying a delicious and nutritious breakfast doesn’t have to cost you an arm; or a leg; or cognition.

One of the major misconceptions out there about healthy eating is that it is not feasible while on a budget. I hear it all too often, “proper nutritional practices are not implementable due to budget constraints and the inability to find healthy ingredients at affordable prices”. I’m here to console those misinformed individuals and enlighten you with a greater understanding of how healthy eating can be extremely affordable. Let’s do a quick cost analysis of my most recent breakfasts.

Thursday 05/19/2011: Lean Green Shake

2 cups of unsweetened almond milk ($1.oo), 1 banana ($0.20), 1 individualized portion of no-sugar-added carrot cake yogurt ($0.40), 5 cups of spinach ($0.75), 1 small handful of cashews ($0.75), 2 splenda ($0.10), 1/2 tbsp of cinnamon ($0.05). Blended all together, this recipe yields a massive shake (~7 cups) that is delicious and will keep you satisfied for roughly $3.25.

Friday 05/20/2011: Southwestern Omelet

6 egg whites ($0.75), 4 oz. taco seasoned lean ground turkey ($1.00), 1/2 chopped onion ($0.30), 1 cup of salsa ($0.60). This particular recipe is a simple protein-packed feast that will punch your morning hunger in the face for just under $3.00.

Saturday 05/21/2011: Low-carb, High-protein Waffles

6 egg whites ($0.60), 2 packets of no-sugar-added oatmeal ($0.30), 1 banana ($0.40), 1 tsp of baking powder ($0.10), 4 tbsp of unsweetened coconut ($0.50), 1/2 tbsp of cinnamon ($0.05), 2 splenda ($0.10), handful of frozen dark cherries ($0.75). Blend everything together except the cherries. Pour batter into your waffle iron and then place 3-4 cherries in each of the quadrants of your waffle iron. Makes 4 large squares (2 servings) for approximately $2.80 (+$0.25 if you want to add sugar-free syrup).

Three nutritious and satisfying breakfasts for all around $3! (Not to mention the amount of money you’ll be saving by keeping yourself in a healthy state, thus attenuating your risk of developing downstream metabolism-related illnesses) It’s just further proof that if there’s a will there’s a way and that the practice of healthy eating techniques is definitely worth committing to.

Cheers,

>>>>>>>TMG

Introducing Greg Machtaler to TMG

The red panda: Extremely cute but can not hit a 2 iron nearly as good as Greg Machtaler. Photo taken during a recent trip to Asia.

The metabolic gastronomer is proud to present the latest addition to the team: Greg Machtaler. Greg is a professional golfer who has travelled the globe to perfect his craft. Greg began experiencing success at an early age in which he was a provincial champion in high school and an intercollegiate champion while attending Brigham Young University. Match, as he is known by his friends, has been regarded as a raw talent and is arguably one of the best ball strikers the game of golf has ever seen. Currently, Match is travelling internationally as member of the Canadian Tour where he has become consistently more competitive at one of the game’s highest levels.

 

The amazing thing is that Match has already experienced a great deal of success despite not having a sound nutritional/training regiment. As a new member of the TMG team, Greg will become immersed in the ways of the force as he will learn that it takes superior fuel to operate like a European sports car. Stay tuned as we follow Greg’s  nutritional metamorphosis and competitive success.