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What's in store for today:
- How To Eat 2-3x more food for the same or less calories ๐ช๐ป
- This Thin Mint Protein Ice Cream is an absolute cheat code ๐คค
- Is fasting better than traditional continuous calorie restriction? ๐ง
Hey friend,
Despite it being cold and snowy outside, I just polished off a pint of protein ice cream for lunch ๐ซฃ
Apparently, ice cream for lunch is a real job perk when you make recipes and share them in newletters like this one for work ๐
I dont' NORMALLY eat ice cream for lunch, but I needed a final beauty shot of the finished ice cream for the newsletter recipe down below, so I made it work!
You'll find the full recipe using the Ninja Creami down below!
Alright, now on to this week's Feel Good Friday Edition...
How To Eat 2-3x More Food For The Same Calories
What if I told you that you could end up eating 2-3 times the VOLUME of food, that still tastes just as good, with MORE protein, but the same or less in calorie and carbohydrate content?
Sounds pretty good right? Almost too good to be true ๐ซฃ
But it's not. And here is a real example...
Last week I shared a recipe for my own home made version of McDonald's Bacon, Egg, and Cheese Muffins ๐
Check out this comparison between that recipe and just ONE McDonald's Bacon, Egg, and Cheese breakfast sandwich...
On the left you see the McDonald's sandwich...
- 460 Calories
- 39 Grams of Carbohydrate
- Only 17 Grams of Protein
On the right you see my recipe which includes THREE muffins of the same size...
- Only 487 Calories...for all three
- Only 30 Grams of Net Carb
- And 60 Grams of Protein
That's 3x the volume of amazing tasting food, 3x the protein, and .75x the carbohydrate, for essentially the same amount of calories.
This is the power of Calorie Density at work.
It's what happens when we know how to make the right ingredient and product swaps to remove unnecessary carbohydrate and fat calories, while maximizing protein, fiber, and flavor.
If this isn't a beautiful image of why learning about nutrition, calorie density, and building the skill of recipe optimization is HUGE for sustainable weight loss...then I don't know what is.
Here's a quick rundown of how I optimized THIS recipe so you can apply the same principles:
- I swapped what would have been a regular high carb and high calorie english muffin for a very low carb english muffin, Aunt Millies Live Carb Smart English Muffins. This drastically reduced carbohydrate content and increased fiber and protein.
- I swapped the regular American cheese for Great Value Fat Free Singles, which drastically lowered the fat content, and further increased protein content since it is mostly protein.
- I swapped whole scrambled egg out for Liquid Egg Makers, which is basically egg white seasoned to taste like whole scrambled eggs. Egg white is a pure protein, so this also drastically lowered the fat calories and gave a huge boost to protein.
- I kept the regular bacon in the recipe since I was able to remove so many fat calories and carbohydrate calories from the other ingredients.
The end result was WAY higher volume of food and more protein, same calories, same satisfaction.
Give it a try and have fun swapping ingredients out to see what you can create ๐ช๐ป
Ninja Creami Thin Mint Protein Ice Cream ๐จ
Meal Sized Pint Recipe
- 327 Calories for the full pint
(Count as a full meal or eat have as a snack and refreeze) - 36g Protein
- 23g Net Carb
Ingredients:
- 1 Full Premiere Protein Shake (Or comparable shake with 30G protein and 140-160 calories)
- 1 Tablespoon Sugar Free Pudding Mix (Chocolate in this case)
- 1 Tablespoon Stevia Powder
- 1/4 Teaspoon Xanthan Gum (Optional for added thickness)
- 2 Tablespoons Premiere Protein Shake (Added during final prep with the Ninja Creami machine)
- 2 Tablespoons Peppermint Mocha Sugar Free Syrup (A small amount of peppermint extract could also work)
- 3 Fudge Mint Cookies (Great Value is what I used)
- In a pint container that comes with the Ninja Creami add in 1 ready to drink Protein Shake that has 30g protein and is between 140-160 calories (I used Premiere Protein Chocolate), 1 tablespoon stevia powder, 1 tablespoon chocolate sugar free pudding mix, and you can optionally add in 1/4 teaspoon of Xanthan Gum for extra thickness (I prefer it).
Stir it all up as well as you can and if you happen to have a hand foamer / blender like this one then I recommend you use that. Once its mixed well put the lid on and put it in the freezer so it can freeze for roughly 24 hours. (I find it doesn't have to freeze a full 24 hours I have taken them out and made them around 18-20 hours and they have been fine.) - When it is sufficiently frozen and you are ready to spin it in the Ninja Creami, take it out of the freezer, remove the lid, put it into the Creami and hit the Lite Ice Cream button to start a spin cycle.
When the spin cycle completes take the lid of and it will look dry on top like it is ground up, but not smooth. Add in about 2 Tablespoons more Chocolate Premiere Protein Shake OR Fat Free Milk, and 2 tablespoons White Peppermint Mocha Sugar Free Syrup. Then hit the Re-spin button. - After the re-spin take the lid off and take a butter knife and core out a hole about an inch wide and maybe 1-2 inches wide down through the middle of the pint big enough to push 3 of the Fudge Mint Cookies down into the pint. Then put the lid back on and hit the Mix-In Button to spin it to crush up the cookies. Enjoy!
Required Equipment:
Ninja Creami Ice Cream Maker
To make this recipe you will need a Ninja Creami ice cream machine. There are a lot of models out there, but for our purposes of making low calorie and high protein ice cream there is only one setting on the machine you will actually use, which is the Lite Ice Cream setting. For that reason this base model is totally sufficient and is one of the most affordable models they have.
Pro Tip:
1. Use a hand Foamer / blender when putting your liquid ingredients and powder ingredients that into the pint that you will freeze. Add them all in and use the hand foamer to mix them extremely well for the absolute best consistency and it makes the whole process a little easier and faster.
Here is the one we used from Amazon:
Is Fasting Better Than Continuous Calorie Restriction? Research Says...Not Really.
Recently researches did a massive review of 342 articles including 10 randomized controlled trials with 623 participants, and the objective was to determine if Fasting based calorie restriction has an edge over traditional calorie restriction (not connected to meal timing).
The results...not really.
In the short term, fasting DID show a slight edge in overall weight loss, insulin and fasting blood sugar markers.
But, the difference in weight loss wasn't really enough to be relevant or to get excited about.
And in the LONG TERM, the slight edges in fasted blood sugar and insulin numbers didn't equate to any additional improvements in HBA1c numbers.
So essentially, BOTH methods...the ones that incorporated fasting as a strategy AND the ones that did not utilize fasting were both effective at producing roughly the same weight loss and overall health improvements in the long term.
So...what's the lesson here?
To me what I read from this review is that it leads great credence to what we've been preaching and teaching to our clients for a long time...
Which is that what REALLY matters most is that we focus on the basics and on sustainability.
What are the basics?
- Are you in a calorie deficit with food intake and movement
- Are you getting enough protein intake.
- Are you strength training and hitting a step goal.
- Are you enjoying your food.
- Do you have enough variety to stay ahead of any burnout.
- Is the overall lifestyle flexible and sustainable for you.
The rest...doesn't really matter!
Win Of The Week:
AJ Losing 47 Pounds + Counting...
Even Losing Weight On A Cruise ๐ข
AJ starting coaching 1:1 with Healthy & Whole a few months ago, and in that time he has lost 47 pounds and counting ๐ช๐ป
One of my favorite wins from AJ's journey was here recently when they sent us a text while out of the country on a cruise...
Apparently, AJ forgot his belt at home, and didn't realize just how loose his pants were ๐
So he had to walk around most of the day holding his pants up with his hand until they could find a store to buy him some new pants while on vacation ๐ฅณ
This what we call "A good problem to have" :)
Since then, when AJ got back from his cruise he was happy to find out that he actually lost weight on his cruise, despite not being "perfect" and enjoying himself along the way ๐๐ป
In a nutshell, this is such a perfect "image" of why Healthy & Whole exists, and what our mission is with each of our clients.
To be able to become Healthy & Whole, while still being able to go out there and live the life you want to live.
Amazing work AJ! ๐
A Quote To Finish Your Week Strong
โThe sooner you start fitting nutrition into your life (rather than trying to fit life into your nutrition), the sooner you will be able to achieve your goals while building a healthy relationship with food.โ
โ Jordan Syatt
When you're ready, here's how I can help:
If you're looking to lose weight sustainably while building a flexible lifestyle that you enjoy, I can help. Apply for coaching here in the Healthy & Whole Mentorship Program.
Disclaimer: This email is provided for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute providing medical advice or professional services. The information provided should not be used for diagnosing or treating a health problem or disease, and those seeking personal medical advice should consult with a licensed physician.
