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Chicken and Mushrooms with Lemon and Garlic

Posted on October 21, 2021 by

Quick & easy with the bright flavor of lemon!

Ingredients:
4 (3 oz) chicken breasts
4 Tbls finely ground almond flour
2 Tbls butter, divided
8 oz mushrooms, sliced to 1/4”
2 cloves garlic, minced
¼ cup chicken broth
Juice of ½ lemon, cut the remainder in wedges
Fresh parsley
Salt & pepper to taste 

Directions

  1. Flatten chicken breasts with mallet to about ¼ inch thickness.
  2. Dredge chicken in almond flour with very light coating and season with salt & pepper.
  3. Heat 1 Tbls butter in skillet and cook chicken on each side until golden brown and cooked through. Remove to warm plate.
  4. Melt remaining butter in skillet and add garlic and mushrooms. Cook for 3-4 minutes or until tender and add chicken broth. Cook to reduce sauce a bit and add lemon juice.
  5. Spoon mushrooms and sauce over chicken and sprinkle with parsley and lemon wedges to serve.
  6. Add your favorite veggie or side salad to round out your meal!

Makes 4 servings

Nutrition Facts:
Calories 235
Total Fat 13g
Total Carbohydrates 2g
Dietary Fiber 1g
Protein 27g

Print Recipe: Chicken and Mushrooms with Lemon and Garlic

For more recipes like this, visit our Pinterest page! https://www.pinterest.com/cfwlsva/

Greek Salad with Zucchini

Posted on July 13, 2021 by

Not your typical side salad!

Ingredients:
1 medium zucchini
4-6 cherry tomatoes
1 Tbsp Kalamata or black olives, sliced
½ cup marinated artichoke hearts, quartered or chopped
1 Tbsp feta cheese, crumbled

Dressing:
1 tsp. white wine vinegar
1 tsp. lemon juice
Salt & pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Combine sliced or spiralized zucchini, halved tomatoes, sliced olives, & chopped artichoke hearts.
2. Stir together dressing ingredients.
3. Drizzle salad with dressing and toss to coat.
4. Toss in bowl and top with feta cheese.

Makes 2 servings

Nutrition Facts:
Calories 164
Total Fat 6.4g
Total Carbohydrates 22.4g
Dietary Fiber 9.6g
Protein 8.5g

Print Recipe: Greek Salad with Zucchini

Metabolic Syndrome

Posted on June 01, 2021 by

Let’s talk about metabolic syndrome. It’s a question that I hear A LOT! Is it affecting you? Metabolic syndrome is very common. This was a diagnosis that came about over the past 30 years or so. I’ll talk about the history of it and what’s involved with the syndrome.

Metabolic Syndrome affects over 64 million people in the United States. That’s about 1/3 of all adults. It describes a collection of metabolic abnormalities. The metabolic abnormalities are what tend to lead to Type II Diabetes and/or Cardiac Disease. It’s important to recognize it and treat it.

It was first described in 1988 by Dr. Gerald Reaven. He noted that people with insulin resistance showed common metabolic disturbances that increase their risk for cardia disease. Originally it was called “Syndrome X, later “Insulin Resistance Syndrome (which is the more accurate name),” and finally “Metabolic Syndrome.” It really all back up to insulin resistance. Insulin resistance is a common theme for all the parameters that are here. It’s used as a diagnostic tool to identify risk of coronary vascular disease (heart disease). Dr. Reaven noted that a “low fat diet” (it was the diet being preached at the time), makes the syndrome worse.

Metabolic Syndrome is a cluster of different things if you have at least 3/5. The first is waist circumference: >40 inches for men and >35 inches for women will put you at risk. That’s abdominal obesity. It doesn’t necessarily mean you have to be obese. It’s just waist circumference. It looks at fasting triglycerides: >150 mg/dl. Is too high. Next is HDL (the good cholesterol) : <40 for men and <50 for women puts you at risk. Blood pressure should be >135/85. Lastly is fasting glucose which should not be >100mg/dl. Notice that only one of these has to do with weight. You could have a large belly but not be that much overweight.

Metabolic Syndrome really means insulin resistance.

Insulin resistance is a state that your body requires more insulin than normal to try and keep blood sugars normal. It has long been known that a “low fat diet” makes this worse. This obviously implies that a “low carb diet” improves these metabolic derangements. A low carb diet will allow insulin levels to come down. A low carb diet will improve each of the 5 metabolic abnormalities.

How does a low carb diet improve the 5 metabolic abnormalities? It improves waist size. Insulin turns on fat storage. Carbohydrates stimulate insulin release. Low carb decreases insulin release. This improves fat mobilization (weight loss) leading to decreased waist size. Insulin is one of the hormones we have control over. Most hormones we have no control over. Insulin only goes up when we have carbohydrate.

It improves fasting blood sugar. Carbohydrates make the blood sugar increase. If we decrease carbohydrates, we can lower the blood sugar. That will lead to lower insulin.

A low carb diet improves fasting triglycerides. They are made from glycerol. Glycerol is made from sugar. Fatty acids come from both the fat you eat and the carbs. You can’t actually put together the triglycerides without the glycerol molecule which come from the carbohydrate. The fatty acids that are not made in triglycerides can be utilized as an energy source. If we get rid of the carbohydrates (sugar) we can’t make the glycerol molecule needed to make the triglycerides.

The HDL is the good cholesterol. When you restrict your carbohydrate intake, you automatically increase your fat intake. Calories have to come from somewhere. By taking in more fat, you’ll automatically improve your HDL. It’s one of the easiest ways to make your HDL go up. Contrary to popular belief, cholesterol is made from carbs and insulin stimulates the making of cholesterol. Insulin turns on the making of the cholesterol molecules. That will make your total cholesterol go up. You want your HDL to go up. The biggest thing that affects HDL is exercise.

Low carbohydrates improve blood sugar in many ways. Insulin causes sodium retention (salt), leading to water retention, leading to increased blood pressure. If you have a weekend where you eat a lot and gain 5 pounds, it’s not the food you ate, its water. The insulin causes sodium retention. Sodium retention means water retention. Water retention leads to increased blood pressure. Lower insulin levels are going to reverse this. Insulin also stimulates the release of a potent vascular constrictor (endothelin-1). This means the blood vessels themselves are tightening down. If they’re tightening down, that means your blood pressure is going to be higher. Insulin also inhibits the production of a vasodilator (nitric oxide). That means the vessels themselves would relax. The nitric oxide lowers blood pressure. Because insulin inhibits this, it works against lowering blood pressure.

Low carbohydrate decreases insulin levels reversing each of these. We want to manipulate insulin and lower it. We don’t want insulin at zero. It’s a hormone you can’t live without. Keep it as low as possible because insulin tends to cause these other problems.

In summation, Metabolic Syndrome is extremely common affecting >1/3 of the adult population.

It isn’t just people who are way overweight. It includes: abdominal obesity, increased triglycerides, low HDL, high B/P, and high blood sugar. If you have any 3 out of the 5, you have metabolic syndrome. Insulin resistance is the common denominator. If you have metabolic syndrome, you have a significant risk of developing heart disease. A low carb diet will improve each of these factors by improving insulin. This will decrease you risk of developing cardiovascular disease and type II diabetes.

Call or text to schedule a lab consultation to find out if you have metabolic syndrome or for more information on your weight loss options. 757-873-1880

Mediterranean Cauliflower Rice

Posted on May 28, 2021 by

Light & easy dinner – perfect for a weeknight!

Ingredients:
1 pkg frozen riced cauliflower
6 oz. cooked chicken breast, diced
6 kalamata olives, sliced
6 cherry tomatoes, halved
4 Tbls. Chickpeas, rinsed
1 tsp olive oil
1 tsp lemon juice
3-4 basil leaves, sliced

Directions:
Cook cauliflower per package instructions.
Mix all ingredients together in serving dish and toss to blend oil & lemon juice.

Makes 2 servings

Nutritional Information:
248 Calories
Fat               7.4g
Carbs        20.5g
Fiber           6.3g
Protein     24.5g

Print Recipe: Mediterranean Cauliflower Rice

 

High Fructose Corn Syrup – Just a Sweetener?

Posted on May 25, 2021 by

High fructose corn syrup can be found in almost everything. Is it the “fruit of the devil” or is it really just a sweetener? Are there more problems with it than just being a sweetener? There’s been a lot of controversy over HFCS. When you think of sugar, you generally think of the white stuff in the bowl. Starting in the mid 1970’s, HFCS began to sneak into our food and beverages. Now it makes up >40% of all caloric sweeteners added to food and beverages. The annual intake has increased 1000% since then. American’s health has suffered. Is this just a coincidence? Is there a potential cause here too?

 

Is HFCS an innocent vegetable or is it liquid death??!!

It’s in everything: soft drinks, fruit juice, frozen yogurts, ketchup, canned fruit, cereal, etc.… It’s in so many products now that if a product doesn’t contain HFCS there will be a label on it stating there is no HFCS.

HFCS was introduced in 1957. It’s a chemical reaction that changes starch in corn to a true sweetener. The industrialization didn’t occur until the mid-1960’s. This was also the time when Castro took over Cuba. A lot of the US sugar came from sugar cane grown in Cuba. When Castro came into power, there was an embargo and we couldn’t import sugar any longer. We had to find a different sweetener and we had lots of extra corn. The farmers were really good at it. High tariff on cane and subsidies for corn farmers made HFCS extremely cheap. So it made its way into just about every food product that uses sweetener.

The problem was we didn’t know if there was a difference between one sweetener versus another. Corn is milled to produce corn starch. Corn starch is processed to yield corn syrup which is almost all glucose. Glucose by itself isn’t very sweet. A number of enzymes are sequentially added to change some of the glucose to fructose. Fructose is a much sweeter sweetener. The typical final concentration of HFCS used in most foods and beverages is about: 55% fructose, 42% glucose, and 3% other sugars.

Why should we care?

Is it really natural? In the chemical transformation could there be mercury contamination? That was a question back in the early days. The other thing that occurs when we do this enzymatic reaction is the formation of carbonyls. Carbonyls can potentially be formed in carbonated beverages. It typically comes from HFCS. The problem is carbonyls can increase cellular damage potentially leading to diabetes. Is it from the carbonyls or from the sugar itself? This also was a time when Americans were taking in a lot more sugar and carbohydrates. It was around the time people were talking about low fat diets. Which change in our diets caused the most problems? It’s hard to tell.

Regular sugar comes from processing sugar cane or sugar beets. Sugar is sucrose. Sucrose is a disaccharide (2 sugar molecules). Sucrose is a glucose and a fructose bonded together. When sugar is digested it’s broken down into 50% glucose and 50% fructose. That doesn’t sound much different than HFCS. There is a difference. Sucrose does have more steps of digestion. HFCS are monosaccharides and don’t need to be digested. The percentages are different than sugar.

Sucrose has the same molecular formula as the glucose and fructose but there’s a lot that has to be broken. It takes more to break it down and utilize it. Is the fructose the problem and not the glucose? Glucose is what we utilize as an energy source. Any carbohydrate we take in that’s used as an energy source is eventually broken down into glucose. Could it be the fructose? Inherently it doesn’t make sense. Fructose is “fruit sugar.” Historically man ate only a small amount of fructose (<15 grams/day). We didn’t have big fruit farms or anything like that. Hunter/gatherers would stumble on a fruit tree every now and then. Nowadays we routinely get about 80-100 grams/day. What could possibly be bad about fruit sugar?

There is a difference between how fructose is digested and the way glucose is digested. Glucose is a simple sugar. It’s what we use as an energy source. It can be burned for energy is every single cell of your body. Mitochondria in the cell metabolize glucose to ATP (energy). ATP is adenosine triphosphate. This is where our energy really is. Glucose can also be stored as glycogen in the muscles and liver. It can be utilized as an energy source or be stored later.

Fructose is metabolized much differently. It’s also a simple sugar. The chemical structure is similar but it can only be broken down in the liver. The rest of the cells in our body can’t actually utilize it. It’s broken down to acetyl CoA. This is the starting point of fatty acid synthesis. This can make your triglycerides, LDL, and HDL worse. This is where fatty liver comes from. This opens the flood gates of fat deposition. When you have fructose it doesn’t actually make your blood sugar go way up. Glucose makes your blood sugar go up.

Fructose can stimulate hunger and indiscriminate eating by NOT stimulating Leptin (a “fullness” hormone) and increasing Ghrelin (a hunger hormone). It won’t make your blood sugar increase, but will worsen insulin resistance, subsequently leading to increased blood sugars and fat storage. Fructose can also cause a depletion of inorganic phosphorus in the liver cells leading to fatigue (due to decreased ATP). If you decrease the phosphorus you have less energy. Fructose can do a number of things that can really work against you.

There are many potential consequences of excess fructose consumption. The biggest consequence is obesity. Fructose turns on fat accumulation everywhere. Once the fatty acids are made in the liver, they can be deposited anywhere. As I mentioned earlier, fructose can cause fatty liver. It worsens lipid profiles: worsens triglycerides, lowers HDL, and raises LDL. It increases hypertension because insulin makes you retain water. It tends to lead to diabetes mellitus. That leads to increased risk of diabetic complications (neuropathy, retinopathy, and kidney problems). It increases uric acid levels. Uric acid leads to gout. And, fructose also causes an increase in accelerated aging-formation of advanced glycation endproducts (AGEs). That means a sugar molecule gets stuck on other things. If it gets stuck on other proteins that means they can’t function normally. It’s cellular aging.

In summary, there is probably nothing good about HFCS. It’s probably not just the HFCS that is the “fruit of the devil.” The real problem is the fructose itself. The real wolf in sheep’s clothing is likely the fructose itself. Since about 50% of all caloric sweeteners is fructose, you ought to do your best to try and avoid any of them. That doesn’t mean we go crazy on artificial sweeteners. There are potential problems with those too. But that’s another story! (Read more in Artificial Sweeteners – Pros, Cons & Weight Loss)

Dilly Grilled Shrimp with Dill Aioli

Posted on April 30, 2021 by

Simple flavors combine for a winner!

Ingredients:
8 oz large shrimp, peeled & deveined
1 Tbsp olive oil (I used dill infused for extra flavor)
2 cloves garlic, minced
Juice from 1 lemon
1 tsp dried dill

Aioli:
3 Tbsp light mayo
2 oz plain Greek yogurt
1 tsp dried dill
1 tsp dried parsley
½ tsp celery salt
½ tsp garlic powder
½ tsp onion powder
½ tsp sea salt

Directions:
1. Combine oil, garlic, lemon juice and dill in resealable bag or covered bowl. Add shrimp and toss to coat.
2. Combine aioli ingredients and chill until serving.
3. Thread shrimp onto skewers and grill over medium heat until pink, turning once.
4. Serve each portion with ¼ of the aioli sauce.

Makes 2 servings (this recipe easily doubles)

Nutrition Facts for Shrimp:
Calories 195
Total Fat 8.9g
Total Carbohydrates 1.7g
Dietary Fiber 0g
Protein 25.8g

Nutrition Facts for Aioli: (1/4 recipe)
Calories 81
Total Fat 2.6g
Total Carbohydrates 3.8g
Dietary Fiber 0g
Protein 11g

Print Recipe: Dilly Grilled Shrimp

Easy Baked Balsamic Chicken

Posted on April 23, 2021 by

Mediterranean sheet pan meal that will quickly be one of your favorites!

Ingredients:
1 pound chicken breasts, cut into chunks
2 small sweet potatoes, diced large
1 medium red onion, cut in wedges
1 sweet pepper, sliced
2 Tbsp olive oil (I used garlic infused)
2 Tbsp aged balsamic vinegar
Juice from ½ lemon
1 tsp dried tarragon
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp sea salt
½ tsp fresh ground pepper
4 oz crumbled feta cheese
2 Tbsp sliced kalamata olives
Fresh parsley

Directions:
1. Combine oil through pepper and whisk together. Add chicken, potatoes, onion and sweet pepper and toss until coated.
2. Preheat oven to 425 degrees and line a baking sheet with foil or parchment.
3. Spread chicken & veggies onto the baking sheet in a single layer.
4. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until chicken is done. Sprinkle feta, olives and parsley over entire pan and serve.

Makes 6 servings

Nutrition Facts:
Calories 277
Total Fat 14.7g
Total Carbohydrates 10.5g
Dietary Fiber 1.1g
Protein 25g

Print Recipe: Easy Baked Balsamic Chicken

Korean Turkey and ‘Rice’

Posted on April 16, 2021 by

A great weeknight dinner – quick & easy!

Ingredients:
1 pound ground turkey
1 tsp garlic powder
1 Tbsp honey
2 Tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp fresh ground ginger or ¼ tsp dried
¼ tsp red pepper flakes (adjust to taste)
Fresh ground pepper to taste
1 pkg riced cauliflower
1 green onion, sliced
Sesame seeds

Directions:
1. Brown ground turkey over medium heat until cooked through.
2. Mix garlic through pepper in small bowl and add to ground turkey. Simmer and stir to coat and sauce is absorbed.
3. Prepare riced cauliflower as directed, drain if necessary & spread onto plate. Top with ground turkey mixture and garnish with green onion & sesame seeds.

Makes 4 servings

Nutrition Facts:
Calories 277
Total Fat 14.7g
Total Carbohydrates 7.4g
Dietary Fiber 1.1g
Protein 32.6g

Print Recipe: Korean Turkey and Rice

Coconut Crusted Tilapia

Posted on April 09, 2021 by

The satisfying crunch without the carbs!

Ingredients
1 pound tilapia filets
1 egg
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp sriracha sauce
½ tsp garlic powder
¼ tsp ground ginger
½ tsp dried cilantro
½ cup almond meal
½ cup desiccated unsweetened coconut
Cooking spray

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Coat baking sheet with cooking spray.
2. Beat egg, soy sauce, & sriracha sauce in shallow dish.
3. Place dry ingredients in shallow dish and mix thoroughly.
4. Dip each filet in egg mixture and dredge in dry coating.
5. Place each filet on baking sheet with space between.
6. Spray upper side of each filet with olive oil spray or cooking spray.
7. Bake in center of oven until flaky and crust is browned, approx. 15-20 minutes.

Makes 4 servings

Nutrition Facts:
Calories 260
Total Fat 14g
Total Carbohydrates 3g
Dietary Fiber 2g
Protein 32g

Print Recipe: Coconut Crusted Tilapia

Baked Cheesy Smothered Chicken

Posted on April 02, 2021 by

Cheese makes almost everything better!

Ingredients
4 (3-4 oz) chicken breasts
8 oz Greek non-fat yogurt
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried basil
1 clove garlic, minced or 1 tsp garlic powder
Salt & pepper to taste
½ cup grated parmesan cheese
2 slices provolone cheese

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Coat baking dish with cooking spray.
2. Place chicken breasts in glass baking dish.
3. Top each with ½ slice provolone.
4. Mix together yogurt through parmesan and spread over chicken breasts.
5. Serve with a garden salad & riced cauliflower.

Makes 4 servings

Nutrition Facts:
Calories 240
Total Fat 9.5g
Total Carbohydrates 2g
Dietary Fiber 0g
Protein 35.5g

Print Recipe: Baked Cheesy Smothered Chicken