Delicious Breakfast Ideas, The Truth about Energy Drinks, Olive Oil Myth

Delicious (and healthy) Breakfast Ideas

As most of you know, I teach that to optimize fat burning you must eat 5-6 smaller meals a day.  These meals obviously begin with breakfast.  Breakfast has been touted as the most important meal of the day and for good reason.   Breakfast not only jump starts the metabolism for the day but it also stabilizes blood sugar helping you make better food choices throughout the day.

Although most of us know that breakfast is important, I still get people telling me that they skip breakfast because they aren’t hungry, or they don’t like eggs, or they get sick of eating the same things.  So in an effort to help the cause, I put together seven of my favorite breakfast recipes for your devouring pleasure.  Hopefully you will find one or two that tickle your fancy (my grandmother used to say that : )

Here they are:

French Toast

2-3 slices of whole wheat bread
2 eggs or 1 egg and 1 egg white
½ cup skim milk
1 tspn Cinnamon
1 tspn Vanilla extract
Sugar free syrup or fruit
Directions:  Mix eggs, cinnamon, vanilla extract, and milk in bowls.  Dip bread in mixture coating both sides.  Cook in pan until golden brown on both sides and all egg is cooked.  Top with sugar free syrup and/or fresh fruit.

Protein Pancakes

1 cup LF cottage cheese
1 cup plain uncooked oatmeal
6 egg whites
1 tsp of vanilla extract
1 tsp cinnamon
Directions:  Put above ingredients in a blender and blend into a batter.  Heat skillet to medium/medium high.  Pour batter onto hot skillet, cook on each side until done.

Omelet

2-3 eggs (or 2 eggs and one egg white)
Salt and pepper to taste
Veggies of choice
Low fat ham
Low fat cheese
Directions:  Spray a 10- or 12-inch non-stick or cast iron skillet with a thin coating of cooking spray, and heat over medium heat.  Beat eggs, salt and pepper until light and fluffy.  When skillet is hot, pour the egg mixture in.  As the omelet starts to set, lift an edge of the omelet with a spatula and tilt the pan so that the runny, unset portion of the omelet can run underneath and start to set. Repeat on the opposite side.  When the omelet is just about completely set, sprinkle the cheese, ham, and veggies over half of the omelet. Fold the other half over the “toppings” half. Slide onto a plate, and serve.
Serve with fruit

Breakfast Shake

½ cup uncooked oatmeal
1-2 scoops of protein powder (your flavor of choice)
1 serving of fruit (again, your choice)
1½ cups of skim milk
Ice
Directions:  Put above ingredients in blender and blend until smooth.  Pour into glass and enjoy!

Parfait

1 cup of low sugar/low fat yogurt
1 serving of fruit (your choice)
Low fat/low sugar granola
Directions:  Top yogurt with fruits and sprinkle with granola.  This is very low calorie and carb heavy so have this with eggs or another lean protein.

Homemade egg mcmuffin

1 whole wheat English muffin
2 eggs (scrambled or fried)
1 piece of Canadian bacon
1/8 cup of low fat cheese
Directions:  Cook the eggs and brown the Canadian bacon.  Top the eggs with cheese and place everything into the English muffin.

Protein Oatmeal

1 serving of low sugar oatmeal
2 scoops of protein powder
Directions:  Mix oatmeal with water or milk and cook per the directions on the container.  Stir in protein powder and serve.  This should be served with 1-2 eggs and 1 piece of fruit.

Energy Drinks-Good? Bad? Or is it all in your mind???

Over the past few years energy drinks have become all the rage.  Red Bull started this phenomenon and the industry has literally exploded.  There are energy drinks out there called Monster, Rock Star, Full Throttle, Amp, Venom, and even Crunk.  Sounds delicious, huh?

So, are these energy drinks really doing what they say they are…giving us energy?  A few months ago I read a study that looked into the energy drink trend and this is what they found:

They broke the participants into 2 large focus groups.  Group one was given a typical energy drink and were told that the drink would increase their strength, endurance, and energy output.

Group two was given the same drink but they were not told it was an energy drink and were not told anything about the effect it would have on their energy, strength, and endurance.

The results were that group one showed an increase in overall strength and endurance while group two showed no measurable change.

So what does this tell us?  This study shows that energy drinks themselves have little to no effect on energy, strength, and endurance.  The chemicals in these drinks do not translate to energy in the body.  True energy comes from carbohydrates not taurine or caffeine or any of the other items in energy drinks.

The fact that group one had increases shows that it was their mind that caused the increases.  When they were told that the drink would cause these increases to happen their mind believed it so it happened.  This shows just how powerful the mind is.  If you believe you can do something you probably will.

So the next time you are looking for a bump in energy stay away from the Crunk Juice and opt instead for complex carbs and a good night’s sleep!

Myth Buster-Heating Olive Oil Makes it Less Healthy

This is a question I have gotten quite a bit lately.  Somehow a rumor got out that heating olive oil lessens its nutritional value.  This is actually far from the truth.  While heating olive oil to excessive temperatures COULD evaporate the alcohols and esters (these are what give olive oil its delicate taste and fragrance) causing the taste and smell to be effected, heat has no discernable effect on the nutritional content.

Some oils can transform into trans-fatty oils when heated but olive oil is not one of them.  Olive oil is highly monounsaturated so it is very resistant to oxygenation and hydrogenation.   Oxygenation and hydrogenation are what cause oils to transform into trans-fatty oils.

So, feel free to cook with olive oil at your leisure knowing that you are consuming a wonderful source of essential fatty acids.

Quotes of the Week

“What looks good to the eyes is forever on your thighs”
-Author Unknown

“I’ve been on a low calorie diet for 2 weeks and all I’ve lost is 14 days of my life”
-Totie Fields

Your Fitness Coach,

Jason

P.S. To register for your FREE BodyBack! Boot Camp session, click the link below and register now:

www.BodyBackBootCamps.com

Come and join us for a fat burnin’, calorie churnin’ workout with other people who have the same goals as you! It’s fast, it’s fun, and it works!  There is no better time to begin getting fit than January.  Be sure to register now as spots fill up VERY fast this time of year!

If you would like more fitness and weight loss tips click the “Free Report” link to the right of this article and get my latest reports “Finally…The Truth About Weight Loss” and “10 Ways to Lose Weight…FAST!” They will be emailed to you immediately!