Sugar Free Diet Archives - ig2go

Re-Vamp Your Breakfast Recipes, try a Quinoa Bowl

Why try a quinoa bowl for breakfast? Quinoa is a complete protein, meaning it has all 10 essential amino acids, and a high fiber content. One cup of cooked quinoa contains 5 grams of satiating fiber, having it for breakfast will help to arm your body with the tools it needs to get through the day and stay fuller longer. As an added bonus, quinoa is packed with health boosters like zinc, calcium, iron, riboflavin, heart healthy fats and antioxidants that have been found to reduce inflammation.quinoa bowl

Recipe: Quinoa Breakfast Bowl
Prep Time: 5
Cook Time: 15
Yield: 2 bowls

Ingredients:
1/2 cup dry quinoa, rinsed
3/4 cup canned lite coconut mylk + more for drizzling
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon + more for sprinkling
pinch of salt
1 tablespoon of dried unsweetened dark cherries
1 tablespoon of toasted pecans
1 tablespoon of toasted pumpkin seeds

Preparation:
Combine quinoa, coconut milk, cinnamon and vanilla in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, cover, and let cook for 15 minutes until quinoa can be fluffed with a fork.
Divide quinoa into two bowls then cover with dried fruits, pecans, + pumpkin seeds and a few extra drizzles of coconut milk.

Chef Notes:  You can use a shelf stable organic Coconut mylk available at Aldi’s Markets. Or you can make your own Almond mylk but that’s for another blog.  Option to add  sweetener of choice,  we find it sweet enough with the coconut milk and fruit.

#Kidfriendly #addtoppingsofyourchoice #mixandmatchfruitsnutsandseeds #yearroundmeal

Nutrition: 302 calories, 10.3 g fat (4.9 g saturated fat), 99 mg sodium, 34.6 g carbs, 5.3 g fiber, 7.9 g sugar, 8.2 g protein

Cut Out Sugar, or Cut Out Fat – Turns Out, Both Approaches Are Wrong

Dangers of Non-Fat diets

Researchers love twin experiments because health is so heavily determined by genetics. However, nutrition and exercise also significantly affect health, which is why this recent month-long twin experiment in Britain is so interesting.

Two brothers, twins Chris and Xand, who are both physicians with similar lifestyles and identical fitness regimens, decided to test which nutrient was worse for you: Sugar or fat. The no-sugar, or ultra-low-fat diets are fairly common approaches to weight loss, but it turns out neither are the best method for pursuing a healthy lifestyle. Well I could have told them that!

Low-Fat

Chris adopted the low-fat diet, allocating the bare minimum of 2 percent of his daily total intake to fat. Essentially, he mimicked the “Non-Fat” craze that took over much of the diet market in the 1990’s. Interestingly, in the late 1980’s, two major reports came out identifying dietary fat as the most important change to improving health, which resulted in food manufacturers substituting sugar for fat (ie. Snackwell cookies).

As many 90’s dieters (and Chris) discovered, severely reducing fat does not lead to losing weight. The Low-fat dieting twin experienced constant feelings of hunger, which made him eat more in calories despite the low fat count.

Sugar-Free

Xand, the other twin, went for a high protein diet that eliminated carbohydrates – not just table sugar, but also flour and fruit which convert to sugar – similar to the Atkins diet. When the Dr. Atkins Diet Revolution was first published in 1972, the President of the American College of Nutrition was quoted as saying “Of all the bizarre diets that have been proposed in the last 50 years, this is the most dangerous to the public if followed for any length of time.”

Xand discovered that eliminating all sugar had some nasty side effects, including less energy and stamina, bad breath, constipation, and fatigue. He did lose more weight (a total of 9 pounds in the course of the month), but he said the low-carb, high-protein diet caused his body to go into ketosis (the body burns fat, but doesn’t provide enough glucose to the brain). Ketosis can also lead to kidney failure.

And The Winner Is?

So which is better: No sugar, or Low-fat? It turns out, both are “pretty miserable” in the words of the brothers.

Their conclusion, according to Chris, was “We should not vilify a single nutrient.” The twin doctors reportedly decided that it’s the combination of sugar and fat found in many processed foods that is the real source of diet-related problems. They recommend watching calories and portion size while eating mostly whole foods. The experiment might be news, but the conclusion sounds like common sense to me!

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