Healthy foods and recipes for any diet:
low fat, low carb, diabetic, heart support, Sonoma Diet, South Beach Diet, Banta Diet, Mediterranean - by best cuisines from around the world!

Friday

Happy Halloween! Pumpkin pancakes recipe

Tom Venuto’s “pumpcakes” (pumpkin pancakes)

Tom Venuto
Burn the Fat

Happy Halloween! I’m going to do my due diligence today to help you avoid the candy dish and other Halloween - Thanksgiving temptations by giving you a delicious healthy alternative! Try this treat: High protein pumpkin pancakes (aka “pumpcakes”). Enjoy!

pumpkin.jpg

7.5 oz (212 g) of canned pumpkin
1/3 cup (27 g) oatmeal dry
1/3 cup (40 g) multigrain or whole wheat pancake mix
1 scoop (26 g) vanilla (or plain) protein powder
4 egg whites
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp cinnamon
Sweetener (brown sugar or splenda): Optional
Yield: makes 2 large (5 inch wide) pancakes

pumpkin_pancakes

Nutrition information for 2 pancakes, unsweetened
Calories: 507
Protein: 44.1 g.
Carbs: 69.7 g.
Fat: 5 g.


Russian white bread "Sitnyj"

Russian Sitnyj bread is famous for it's resistance to pressing: no matter how hard you press it, as soon as you stop, it returns to its form.




























Recipe

Starter

1/2 lb white wheat flour, non-bleached, non-enriched
1 cup warm water
1 sachet yeast

Mix the ingredients and let stand in a warm place for 4 hours

Dough

1/2 lb white wheat flour, non bleached, non enriched
3 oz durum flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 Tbs. sugar
1 tsp. sunflower oil

Mix the dough ingredients with the starter, let stand in a warm place for 1 hour. Kneed very thoroughly for at least 20 min. Cover with a think cloth and let stand for 1,5 hours.

Preheat the oven to 465 F. Grease a bread form with the oil, pour the dough into it, and let stand one more hour. Alternatively, carefully turn the bowl with the dough upside down letting the dough bulk drop onto a greased flat baking sheet. In this case, you'll have your loaf in the form of a flatter dome.

Bake for 40 minutes at 465 F.

Thursday

Mike Geary's variation of healthier pancakes

by Mike Geary
Certified Nutrition Specialist
Certified Personal Trainer
Founder - Truth About Abs

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that your typical pancakes are certainly
NOT the type of food you want to eat if your goal is fat loss or staying lean.

However, for years, there's been a basic type of modified pancake recipe floating
around in bodybuilding circles that is a healthier version (although not my
favorite)...

Basically, the bodybuilder version is as simple as using a carton of egg whites in a
blender, adding some dry oatmeal and vanilla whey protein (and a few other minor
ingredients), and then cooking them up as "protein pancakes".

I'll be honest with you... this bodybuilding pancake recipe tastes more like
sweetened eggs than it does like pancakes.

So what I've done is come up with my own variation of healthier pancakes that
actually TASTES like pancakes. Of course, we know that most pre-made pancake dry
mixes are not the healthiest option. However, they can be more convenient for most
people than trying to make pancakes from scratch.

Here's what you can do to make much healthier pancakes:

1. Take only 1/3 of the quantity of pancake mix that the box calls for. So if the
box says to use 1 cup of dry pancake mix, just use 1/3 cup instead. This way, you're
greatly reducing the amount of refined wheat flour and sugar that are in these mixes
by only using 1/3 of the amount recommended.

I know I'm usually pretty strict with ruling out ALL refined wheat flours, but
sometimes just reducing the quantity and substituting the remainder with healthier
ingredients is the best option for something like this.

2. For the remaining 2/3 of the dry mix, substitute in a mixture of equal parts oat
bran, rice bran, and whey protein. You can find oat bran at most grocery stores, and
rice bran at health food stores. Try using a little cinnamon too if you like the
taste (it also boosts the antioxidant content).

3. Use whole eggs instead of egg whites and use 1 extra egg than what the recipe
calls for to increase the protein and healthy fats content.

More info about eggs


4. After mixing in the milk called for on the box, whisk the mixture in a bowl. Now
you're ready to pour the healthier pancakes into the pan. Don't forget to top them
with some blueberries or other berries for some extra taste and healthful benefits.

5. The best oil to use in the pan for cooking is virgin coconut oil. I use virgin
coconut oil for most of my cooking as it's one of the healthiest options. It's a
much more stable oil for cooking so it's not prone to the oxidation and free radical
production that typical vegetable oils are prone to.

You can get virgin coconut oil at - go here

Also, be sure to check out their coconut flour, as it's a great super-high fiber
alternate flour that can be used in baking (note that if you use coconut flour, you
should mix it with another type of flour to balance the moisture content as coconut
flour tends to soak up more moisture than other flours).

If you're confused about which cooking oils are healthy and which are not - go here


Again, the trick to this recipe is using only 1/3 of the dry pancake mix (since
that's the least healthy part of this recipe) and the other 2/3 of the dry materials
are the oat bran, rice bran, and whey protein to boost the fiber and protein content
of the pancakes.

I only do pancakes on occasion as they are a nice treat, but at least with this
recipe, you have yourself a much healthier version of pancakes that are quite high
in fiber and much higher in protein and healthy fats than your typical pancake
recipe... but they still taste like pancakes and are delicious in my opinion!

And do yourself a favor and please do not ruin this meal by dousing it with your
typical fake maple syrup, which is usually all high fructose corn syrup!

Instead, a much healthier option is to simply top it with berries or other cut fruit
instead of syrup.

Enjoy!

Feel free to fwd this email to all of your friends, family, and coworkers that might
enjoy it.

Til next newsletter,
Don't be lazy... be lean.

Mike Geary
Certified Nutrition Specialist
Certified Personal Trainer
Founder - Truth About Abs

Monday

Power foods

Health benefits of almonds, broccoli, and red wine

After almonds, broccoli, and red wine appeared on the list of "power foods" dieters started asking us questions about their health benefits. Our readers' questions about nutrition values of almonds, broccoli, and red wine are answered by Tanya Zilberter, PhD

Almonds help reducing cholesterol better than oats and soy, the two recognized champions. Eating a handful of almonds with skins a day reduce risk of heart disease.

A study published in the May 2005 issue of the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that almonds can reduce artery-damaging inflammation.

Another study involving overweight and obese people showed that an almond-enriched low calorie diet can help shed pounds more effectively than a low calorie diet alone. Dieters eating almonds had a 62% greater fat and inches loss(International Journal of Obesity and Related Metabolic Disorders, January 2, 2004)
More about almonds -> click here

Recent dieting trend turned to the benefits of red wine. The Mediterranean group of traditional diets have red wine on their staple food list, along with olive oil and fish. Research showed that having a glass of red wine daily can prevent heart disease.
More about red wine -> click here

Broccoli is considered a power food because of its exceptional nutritional value. As an article published in September 2004 issue of the Journal of Nutrition revealed, it contains plant chemicals with significant cancer-preventive effects.
More about broccoli -> click here

Broccoli is one of the small number of vegetables and fruits that significantly reduced the risk of heart disease, as showed research reported in May 4, 2004 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Here's an almost full list of nutrients in 1 cup of broccoli (first figure is amount; % is for Daily Values):

Calories 24.64
Calories from Fat 2.77
Total Fat 0.308g 0%
Saturated Fat 0.0475g 0%
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.147g
Monounsaturated Fat 0.0211g
Cholesterol 0mg 0%
Sodium 23.76mg 1%
Potassium 286mg 8%
Total Carbohydrate 4.61g 2%
Dietary Fiber 2.64g 11%
Protein 2.62g 5%