Hi everyone,
Today we were rained out in a rare spell of rain here in Gozo. The timing was perfect, because today we had planned to take it easy. I am still sore from yesterday’s Death By Workout :) Zuzana says hi to all of you and I hope that you will enjoy the article that I have put together for you today.
As many of you know, we recently moved to Malta, and obviously we’ve no longer been buying food from Canadian supermarkets. But here’s one thing we’ve noticed — processed food is everywhere. Even in the most unlikely locations, you’ll find products designed to look as authentic, natural, and old-fashioned as possible, all while containing loads of unnecessary additives that we don’t need.
One of the main problems here is that so much food we have in our pantry is loaded with stuff — it’s just the way the modern food system has been working, all these years.
5 Easy Things.
So we thought of something: instead of telling you to go out and throw away every single thing you’ve got in your fridge & pantry that doesn’t live up to some exacting set of standards, why not choose some of the most common offenders — ones we might not even realize are loaded goods — and highlight easy ways to replace them, permanently and without a lot of fuss.
#5: Swap Out Those Bread Crumbs.
When you buy bread crumbs, grated bread, or bread meal (or however you call it), you’re really buying a loaf of bread, just sold in a different version. If you’ve got some standard supermarket bread crumbs lying around (croutons fall into this category, too), take a look at the ingredients.
We were amazed the last time we did — we counted ingredients well into double-digits!
Solution: Make your own bread crumbs in a food processor, from bread you know is good, get bagged bread crumbs/grated bread from a bakery, or only buy brands with no unnecessary preservatives/corn syrup added.
#4: Switch Up the Salad Dressing.
Even some of the ‘healthiest’ salad dressings out there are made by big, industrial manufacturers, and as such are absolutely loaded with additives.
Solution: Avoid them, and stick with salad dressing that only contains ingredients you understand. Better yet, if you’re a fan of creamy salad dressing, try weaning yourself off of it, and onto vinaigrettes.
Most Italians, for example, dress their salads like this — olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt & pepper, and toss. There’s no need to even make a separate dressing — just put it right onto the salad/plate itself — to get great, natural results.
#3: Toss Your Broth Cubes.
These ones are deadly offenders — if you’re not checking what’s in your stock cubes and you decide to make, say, a risotto, there’s a pretty good chance that delicious meal you’ve prepared is going to contain MSG, among a whole load of other hydrogenated oils and more junk you don’t need.
Consider that example further — great risottos are often made with butter, which, no denying, is fat. But it’s also delicious, not the worst thing in the world in moderation, and a relatively simple fat that’s easy to understand. Why adulterate your masterpiece with a broth cube that’s practically 90% chemical additives?
Solution: Make your own broth, although that definitely takes a time commitment. If you’re not ready to start making broths and freezing them just yet, look for canned broths that are low in sodium and as free of as many chemical-sounding names as humanly possible. They’re out there.
#2: Get Real Bread.
We’ve already talked about bread before, but we’re putting it on this list because it’s still one of the easiest things to change — avoid any bread that has complicated ingredients or vitamin additives alongside unnecessary things like sugar, and keep it simple.
#1: Think About Breakfast Cereals.
The idea of cereals as ‘health’ food has exploded over the last 10-15 years, and recently the American FDA threatened to re-label whole-grain Cheerios as a drug, rather than a food, because of the cholesterol claims being made on the packaging.
Solution: Find a different way to eat breakfast — there are plenty out there. If you’re attached to cereals but don’t mind switching up; again, keep it simple. You’re likely better off with 2-ingredient shredded wheat and a bit of sugar in place of the dozens of “heart-safe” cereals crowding the shelves.
Start Small
Remember, all these foods can be replaced with either time-consuming efforts, or with simpler ones. Don’t feel like you’ve got to throw out everything and start 100% fresh — it’s hard to stick with things when you do that.
Get a better canned broth instead of the cubes. Use it for a while. Then, the next time you make chicken, or soup, or whatever you’re doing — make extra stock. Take it easy, substitute things at a rational, realistic pace, and before you know it your pantry, fridge, and cupboards will be full of real, authentic, simple food.
Best,
Frederick.
If I may add something to your very good list.
About creamy salad dressings, I personaly LOVE ceasar salad dressing, but to cut calories, I always dilute it in skim milk (half half). I still get the taste, but I cut the calories in half. Also instead of whole croutons, I smash 2 little bit of dried bread, and put the crumbs on my salad. Again I still get the taste and crunch, but I cut the calories.
I love your list! Keep up the good work!
Great idea! I am on the Jillian Michaels program and she has me make Caesar salad with low-fat Caesar dressing, but I want to eat a lot of lettuce and it’s a real stretch to get enough dressing. I’m going to try this!
Oddly enough, for that salad she has me use fat free croutons…I was suspicious of this because it just goes against her mantra of real food. I think from now on I will just add some chopped veggies to make up for the croutons, or make my own with whole grain bread and herbs.
There’s nothing wrong with eating saturated fat. Mark’s Daily Apple and Underground Wellness have good articles on it as does this site.
Humans were made to consume fat. Fat doesn’t turn to fat in your body.
I love your list, too! Really great advice on reading the ingredients list on your packaging. I was never really one to count calories or harp on anything other than the amount of sodium in a product and if there is any additive whatsoever, I toss it. I try to think like this: eat like a barbarian. Not in manners, but in ingredients. Some of the stuff they put in our food was not intended to be eaten in the super concentrated way they are processed, now. I feel a lot better, have started losing a lot of weight, and I have more energy, too. I noticed that every time I eat something pre-made, I feel a little wonky, and by not eating anything that has an unhealthy dose of processed junk,I feel much better.
Keep up the nutrition posts! I need the advice :)
The changes I’ve made are not buying anything that contain transfats or saturated fats (it’s possible),enriched flour, caffeine, salt more than 50mg, and sugar. My husband literally rolls his eyes when we go shopping and I READ ALL THE INGREDIENTS first. He pours lots of creamy,fattening,salad dressing on his salad(OMG,I say. Why even have salad if you’re going to smother it?!).I just use a little of extra virgin oil on mine. He’ll eat half of the macaroni’n cheese (he saves the other half for late night snack. LOL),I eat all the vegetables. He has even suggested we use two shopping carts,one for my health conscious foods and the other for his food tastes which consists of a lot of red meats and ingredients that even he can’t pronounce. I’ve said to him,” If you can’t pronounce the ingredients,then don’t put it in your mouth.” He rolls his eyes at me -again. LOL. Then he wonders why his weight has gone from 175 pounds to 235 pounds!! Yes, I have suggested he watch Zuzana’s workouts and start making changes,but he’s not ready yet. He has to “want” to lose weight for himself not for me.
Anyway, our refrigerator is divided between his stuff and mine. One of these days we’ll eat “our” body healthy food together. Aaaaand,maybe even do your workouts together.!
Good article! thanks,
Breakfast cereals are tough. It’s a fast easy breakfast but it’s hard to find anything healthy. Unfortunately, even shredded wheat is loaded with sodium. In fact, most are,even the “heart’healthy” ones. The best cereal I’ve found are some of them made by Krashi.
Oatmeal is probably the healthiest choice you can make, if you don’t mind fixing it.
Great tips and so easy to apply. Thank you the fresh ideas.
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Thanks Frederick, These types of articles are truly needed, people sometimes don’t realize that the fuel you put in you body should be “high octane”, and you’ve given us some great alternatives for eliminating the junk you’ve got to eat as clean as possible to get good results like Zuzana has :-), hopeful there will many of thee types of articles to come
Hi Frederick,
Yes, bread is a little pet peeve with me. People save money buying saw dust laden garbage. From one of the workout’s I remember Zuzana commenting on the smells from a bakery. I hope you’re getting fresh bread from them. It is also really easy to make your own by hand or with one of the bread machines.
Best wishes,
–Chris
SO AGREE! Since we have moved half of the year to France, I used to think it was painful to have to go each morning to the markets to buy your daily fruit, vegetables, meats and bread for the daily lunch and dinner. It mean you have to plan what you are having and need for your meals as the markets close at noon. But since we have been here, we are healthier, have lost weight and eat more! It is because the French do NOT put preservatives in anything and believe in eating well-that means not only can you eat more but you eat better. I am not looking forward to Hawaii which is the next stop…:)
One thing I learned travelling is to buy whatever is in season and fresh: tomatoes, blueberries-and use that in your meals but you can freeze it easily. Blueberries just go straight into the freezer and can be thrown frozen into muffins, smoothies, cereal and porridge-anything. Any stone fruit just needs to be cleaned and cut and tomatoes are handy for any base. Its not much work and you can do it when you are preparing your dinner, just prepare extra for the freezer. It is better than canned and you don’t have the preservatives.
Good luck in Malta-it is a difficult place to find fresh food at any time of the year though…:)
PS thanks for your great workouts-makes it feasible to workout when you are travelling always like us and do not have any equipment!
There realy is to much bullshitfood in the shops. I have had a small article on my site about food. Shocking! http://red-star.nl/blog/?p=4664 Watch the vid (english) or click on it to see the rest.
Hi, Frederick&Zuzana!
I have a question. I´ve heard and read that it´s not recomended to expose olive oil to high temperatures because it becomes toxic. That´s why I´m using cocos fat (and palm oil), which is supposed to be the best fat used for cooking.
I´ve also heard that body doesn´t recognize cocos fat (and palm oil) as ˝fat˝. Did you hear anything about that?
Enjoy the day off! :)
Greetings from your ˝neighbor˝, Jasna from Slovenia! :)
Hi TheLamutka,
I have never heard of that. Where did you read it?
oh man, I am so glad you have addressed this issue. I have gone on a rampage years ago! got rid of all products with additives and anything with some dodgy looking number. in Europe it is E followed by a number. Plain awful. It all started when i was at a bio store, chewing gum and the guy told me that i was chewing my way to cancer because i was filling my body with a toxic called Aspartame. He suggested that i’d check out a book called ” know what you eat”. it had a list that deciphered all those crazy names and numbers in many so-called healthy products.
I have since changed my ways and my skin, energy levels have been the main beneficiaries.
As a child I grew up in a house where we drank everything with sugar. And I mean EVERYTHING. Slowly but surely, I got rid of sugar in my diet. These days, you will find me using honey or just plain enjoying the sugar in fruits. LAst week someone gave me a piece of cake made of almonds and I swear it had been so long I had had sugar, I felt nauseous and offended my taste buds! None of that for me!
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I made a creamy salad dressing by mixing flax seed oil or olive oil and hummus with a little bit of fresh salsa. Its very tasty and very creamy and all-natural with simple whole ingredients.
@TheLamutka:
Although I’ve heard that a few times (and only as a vague “accusation”, as I’ve never heard any reference about what exactly was toxic about it and how that toxicity could affect people), there hadn’t been any scientific studies to prove it, and judging by how healthy people from cultures that use it have always been, I doubt there is much truth to it. You should, however, avoid cooking at temperatures above its smoking point, but merely because that would be detrimental to both taste and nutritious value of the food you’re cooking. If you need to cook something at a higher temperature, then simply choose an oil with a higher smoking point.
Hope this helps :)
hi everybody,
i just wanted to say one thing to TheLamuthka.
i’m french and in my country like in Italy, everybody cooks with olive oil. if i really was toxic when brought to high temperature, we would be dead by now or in very bad helth. actually, we are one of the first country when it come to food.
So you can go with olive oil as you want. you’re safe.
best, LisaG
Olive Oil:
Cooking with olive oil is like cooking with wine. Never use a wine or olive oil that does not taste good to you. An inferior one will leave an aftertaste. If you do the taste test and compare the “pure” to the “extra-virgin” and the you’ll understand the difference.
When cooking with olive oil, save your extra-virgin expensive oils for salads, dressings, and vinaigrettes. You can also drizzle it over slices of crusty bread or onto open-face sandwiches. Use it on a baked potato or add it to mashed potatoes instead of butter. Extra virgin olive oil tastes great on cooked vegetables or brushed onto fish or meat before serving.
When sautéing or frying, use either a combination olive oil (one that is simply a blend of extra virgin and regular olive oil) or a straight olive oil.
For deep frying, the olive oil grade “olive oil,” is excellent because it has a higher smoke point (410º F) than virgin or extra virgin oils.
Marcella Hazan who wrote the cookbook called Marcella Cucina, wrote the following:
“The taste of a dish for which you need olive oil will be as good or as ordinary as the oil you use. A sublime one can lift even modest ingredients to eminent heights of flavor; a dreary oil will pull the best ingredients down to its own level. Partial clues to the quality of the olive oil you are buying are supplied by the label and the price, but ultimately, the only way to determine which one, among those available, is right for you is to taste and compare.”
P.S., I ONLY use virgin olive oils when I saute or fry eggs. Only use virgin olive oil on salads and I also use a little on brown rice instead of butter.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
why did you remove so many videos?????????????
i just needed to watch the 40 minutes cardio workout!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
is it just because your changing the place of the videos???
answer me pleaseeeeeeeeeeeee
best, LisaG
Hi LisaG,
don’t panic :) I didn’t delete any videos, I just stored the old ones into the Archive page.
In regards to the individual who commented on olive oil…cocos fat (palm oil), there is a great site that talks about olive oil and myths surrounding this oil. Check out the info on this site – very good info there: http://www.oliveoilsource.com/cooking_olive_oil.htm
Over the past few years, I’ve made some changes in regards to the fats/oils we use, eliminating the amount of processed foods we consume, and increasing the amount of raw fruits/vegetables we eat. We now only use cold-pressed olive oil, cold-pressed coconut oil, and butter (for baking only- a rarity). Instead of cooking vegetables, I now throw the greens (kale, spinach, collard greens, swiss chard, etc) into a Vita Mix blender, add a ripe banana and some ripe pineapple to make it more palatable, add water and mix. Because the cell walls of the vegetables are ruptured, they are easier to digest and assimilate thus allowing for better absorption. As a result, the cravings for “processed foods” diminishes. When my kids are craving for sweets/processed food, I know their bodies are screaming for nutrients. When they drink one of my green smoothies, I don’t see them digging in my cupboards/fridge looking for something. They are satisfied.
Back to coconut oil – there is a very good book available in North America entitled, The Coconut Oil Miracle by Bruce Fife, C.N., N.D. In this book he talks about how people from the Pacific Islands and Asia whose diets are very high in coconut (diets which are high in the medium chain fatty acids), do not have the health issues (degenerative diseases, cancer, cardiovascular disease) than people from the “western” culture. Interestingly, when people from the islands and Asia replace coconut oil with other oils (the kind we are familiar with) and other processed foods, health issues surface. Interesting read.
It is true Frederic, shopping for wholesome foods can be a daunting task. Even though I live in Canada, I’m sure it’s not different anywhere else for that matter. Walking down the isles in the grocery stores, I am overwhelmed with how many isles are dedicated to processed foods. Lucky if 20% of the store sells food in its natural, wholesome state.
for bread.. look at ezekiel bread. it is amazing. its made from sprouts. its mostly protein. there is NO FLOUR used to make this bread. it is very good for you. they have cereals, bread etc. look them up ! :)
TheLamutka,
No cooking oil is toxic, unless you heat it past the smoke point. The smoke point for olive oil is higher than the cooking temperatures you will reach in a home kitchen. Extra virgin olive oil has a smoke point of 190 degrees C and if you deepfry olive oil you will reach a max temp of 180C. Coconut oil actually has a lower smoke point at 177C but palm oil has a higher one at 235C. You can check out smoke points for other cooking oils here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoke_point
In order to turn mono-saturated fats into trans fats or saturated fats you also have to repeatedly heat the oil to high temperatures. If you use oils that have a high smoke point and remain liquid in the fridge, you have yourself a good cooking oil.
my post has not shown up from 12 hours ago. Is there a problem?
Thanks.x.
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Hi Zuzana,
sorry for yesterday, it’s just that i couldn’t find them in the Archive page.
thanks for your site!!!!!!!!!!
with love, LisaG
Hey, I just watched your latest workout vid on YouTube and thought to myself it looks like the buildings around here or in Valletta (I’m in Sliema). Now I read you’ve moved here, so at least I know I didn’t go crazy ;) I’m gonna visit this site regularly. Lots of tips I can use. Thanks!
Hi!
Sorry it took me so long to rewrite!:)
I´m sure you will find information about cocos fat if you write a keyword on google. I first heard about cocos fat from my sister, later I read about it on the internet. I did some research just for you right now. :) I´ve translated first two posts from this site with some help of google translator-I hope there aren´t too many mistakes: http://med.over.net/forum5/read.php?130,2554164
Question:
I wonder whether you can use for cooking coconut or palm butter? I would like you to tell me more about the MCT oil and coconut butter. Are they really without cholesterol? Now I use olive oil in cooking.
Answer:
I will put forward some facts, you decide about the use.
Coconut oil is composed mainly of saturated fatty acid medium. Approximately 92% contain saturated fatty acids and of which 62% of medium-chain carbon atoms. Mostly, these are lauric and myristic fatty acid. Lauric attributed to anti-bacterial action because the body can be formed from monolavrin that can destroy the lipid enveloped viruses (common cold virus, herpes, Helycobacter pylori …). At the same time, the impact on raising HDL, or good cholesterol. Myristic fatty acid is investigating in connection with ill-effects on blood cholesterol levels.
The main positive effect of medium fatty acids, or most popular, is their different way of digestion. While long chain fatty acids in blood round the body to travel directly to the medium against liver and there is immediately metabolised into energy. A great plus for people on the reduction diet.
MCT oil is expected to be a better alternative to coconut oil, given that it contains only medium fatty acids with no negative factors. Price is usually much higher.
Palm oil made from its pits contains about 82% saturated fatty acids (again, quite medium), 12% monounsaturated and 6% polyunsaturated fatty acids. The benefits associated with the use of this oil with a particular interpretation of vitamin E. Problem is that this content varies considerably between producers of palm oil and regardless of the source.
The fact is that there are opinions for and against, and in each study is necessary to look from which countries and institutions come from researchers or whether it is ordered by a research firm that produces the oil or they are independent. Personally, I am aware of the fact that the bad effects of the particular combination of saturated fat and cholesterol. Coconut, palm oil and MCT do not contain cholesterol. My diet contains very little animal fat, so a certain amount of saturated fat is not considered to be detrimental. In any event, stay away from hydrogenated fats and trans fats of any other source. These are also being produced for domestic cooking, even use the cold pressed vegetable oils, such as olive.
Therefore, my donuts for dull ocvrla on palm oil, which is due to the high levels of saturated fats, trans fats at high temperature frying do not form. Frying otherwise at home do not use. For the cold salads and any use of vegetable oil I use cold-pressed oil. For spreading on bread, use instead of butter or a little margarine, which is produced without hydrogenation (at low temperatures mixed cold pressed oil with palm oil), but even that is rare for me. For baking, but prefer to use small quantities of pure coconut oil. We here identified only palm, coconut and buy outside. MCT oil, not only because of price.
This article tells a lot. What do you think?
I have another one:
https://www.mercator.si/uzivajmozdravo/strokovnjak_svetuje/andrej_goljat/clanek?aid=3091
Question:
I am interested in the use of coconut butter (fat). Eg.: How much choleserol it contains … what temperature does it withstand… is it harmful and in particular, to what is used (attenuation, frying, baking …). Thank you for your answer!
Answer:
100 g coconut butter contains 885 Kcal.
The use of coconut butter: You can use it as a spread, for stability at high temperature is suitable for roasting and frying food. Food prepared in cocos fat has excellent taste and a specific color. Coconut and his butter is healthy for the liver, effects on cholesterol lowering, improve lipid metabolism and helps lose excess weight.
Coconut butter is faster and easier to digest than other fats with long chain molecules.
His digestion starts in the mouth. Coconut oil gives about 2.5% less calories than other saturated fats.
A few abstracts from the literature: Coconut butter, contrary to belief, promote metabolism and burning fat cells and helps to lower blood cholesterol levels. Coconut fat doesen´t make you gain fat. On the contrary, studies show that fatty acids are transported directly to the liver where it is converted into energy and is not putting as fat in the tissues. Coconut butter is one of the few fat, speeding up fat burning and helps weight loss.
Did I manaage to convince you? :)
P.S.: Sorry for mistakes, but this articles are a little more specific and it´s been some time from my high school and english every day… :)
I just thought I would share this recipe with you guys… I know I’m ALWAYS looking for new ideas! =) I made zucchini bread for my boyfriend the other day (he does not follow a whole food diet ;) and it looked so good that I thought I would try my own variation!
Zucchini muffins:
2 handfuls rolled oats
2 TBS oat bran
2 TBS flax meal
1 grated zucchini
1/2 grated carrot (smallest grate)
small handful of raisins
small handful of chopped walnuts
cinnamon
2 TBS olive oil
2 TBS brown sugar
1 egg
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Beat egg and add oil and sugar. Mix everything else in a mixing bowl. Then add wet ingredients. I made these into muffins, but you can do whatever you want. (It makes it easier for portion control for me! ;)) Bake for about 17 min.
Thank you Z and F! You are awesome!!
Ally
Okay. So I know this is pretty bad but I just started drinking Coca Cola to take my corticosteroids… it washes out the awful disgusting taste out of my mouth and seems to be the only thing that helps. Any ideas on anything else that might be able to help instead of the Coke?
Excellent article. It’s shocking how much rubbish manufacters put in our food to bulk it out, especially oils, salts and sugars. By the time you tot it all up it’s no wonder that so many people struggle with their weight, despite their best efforts.
You’ve gave me the push to start baking my own bread. I’ve had the stuff in forweeks and tomorrow, I’m going to use it.
Hi Zuzana and Frederick!
How about another recipe? This time it will be…
Polynesian Meatballs (Serve with rice, couscous or bulgur)
Ingredients:
*For the Meatballs*
- 1 1/2 lb. ground beef (or ground turkey for a change!)
- 3/4 c. uncooked oatmeal
- 1 can (5 oz.) water chestnuts, drained & finely chopped
- 1/2 tsp. onion salt
- 1/2 tsp. garlic salt
- 1 tbsp. soy sauce
- 1 egg
- 1/2 c. skim milk (or plain soy milk)
*For the sauce*
- 1 can (8 1/2 oz.) crushed pineapple
- Cane sugar or honey to taste
- 2 tsp. cornstarch (ground salba can thicken liquids too but I haven’t tried it yet)
- 1 tsp. ground ginger
- 2 tsp. soy sauce
- 1 tsp. garlic powder (or add fresh crushed garlic, even better!)
- 1/3 c. chopped sweet red pepper
STEPS
*Meatballs*
Pre-heat your oven to broil. Mix all the Meatball ingredients together. Shape into small balls and place them in a pan. Let the Meatballs cook in the oven (still on broil), moving them around from time to time until they are fully and evenly cooked. Drain off the grease.
*Sauce*
Drain the pineapple and reserve the juice. Mix together sugar/honey, cornstarch/ground salba, the pineapple juice, the ground ginger, the garlic and the soy sauce in a saucepan. Bring to boil, stirring constantly until thick and clear. Stir in red pepper and pineapple. Add meatballs and simmer in 10 minutes.
Hope you enjoy it as much as I do, (I have modified it from the first time I have made it, the original recipe included BBQ sauce!)
P.S I love the Death by Workout (Workout)!!!
Hi Vicky,
thanks for another great recipe.
Jaia, Try water, then chewing gum.
Hi Zuzana,
I wonder if you could give us one or two days of your type of week, including what you eat from breakfast to dinner, with your portion size. The two days can be one day rest and the other one, when you work out! Do you have some ideas for a type of menu for a week?
It would be nice from you to do that!!
Thank you very much, bye
Marion
Oh, just last thing, will you eat some chocolates for Christmas? ;)
Hi Marion,
I really enjoy just sharing the recipes, because there is nothing interesting about my menu. I don’t plan ahead. I just eat what’s in the fridge :) As I have mentioned before, I eat real foods and I try to cook nice meals out of them. The rest is simple – small portions. I eat whole wheat bread, fruits, veggies, legumes, chicken, fish, eggs, dairy, nuts, and chocolate :) I will eat chocolate for christmas for sure. It wouldn’t be Christmas without treats ;) I like Lindor chocolates the most.
Zuzana,
I was wondering what your thoughts were on textured vetetable protein? Thankss
Hii Zuzana,
Question for you, what is eat clean diet? Apparently, this concept is one more in the check list of eat real food getting fit and true for a healthy lifestyle. By the way, you have really good tips, at least there is sincere hope.
v/r
Elizabeth
Hi Zuzana!Could you tell me what do you eat? Do you eat meat, junk food, sugar, bread, do you drink alcohol drinks? Do you eat after 18:00 p.m?
And the second question: are you using any steroids to build muscles? And how long did it take to build body like this, doing your daily workout? You do this intensive workout every day or 3-4 times per week? Are you doing something else, or just these workouts?
P.S. Sorry about my english))
Hi Vera3339,
just read through my posts and articles, I have been posting about my diet and workouts on a regular basis.
Hi Zuzana.
You got great ideas, really did. I take inspiration. Otherwise you come from Bohemia? I also from Bohemia with the only difference that still live in Bohemia. There’s a nice total. Otherwise, my friend trained by you. I got the perfect body! With regards and wish you every success. Ondra
Hey,
Just a couple of brands to look for if you’re trying to make these kind of changes. These are easy to find if you live in a larger city or if you have a good health food store around. If they don’t have the brands, suggest them, they’re great! Nature’s Path is a wonderful little cereal company based out of Victoria, B.C. (I’ve recently moved to London England and was amazed to see it sold here!). They make additive free cereals with ancient grains, many of which are sweetened only with grape juice, great for me, cuz refined sugar first thing in the morning makes me feel awful! My faves are the spelt flakes and heritage flakes. As for stock, try Better than Boullion, which is a concentrated paste, rather than cubes. It’s cheaper than buying cans of stock, because one jar will make litres and litres of stock (use one tsp. per cup of water, at $6-$8 per jar), and all the ingredients are actual food: veggies, meat, spices. No msg or colourings and you can get any flavour from mushroom to lobster. The best!
As for the oil debate, I have to agree with Irene. Any oil will become less healthy (I wouldn’t go so far as to say “toxic”) when heated past its smoke point. Any food for that matter, will decrease in nutritive value when cooked, hence the whole raw food movement, and if you’re burning any food you are creating carcenogens. I cook almost entirely with olive oil, and lots of it, just make sure you’re not using a blazing heat. Vegetable or peanut oils have high smoke points and I keep a little around for when I really need to sear or fry the heck out of something. If you are looking to get the full health benefits of the oil you are using, just drizzle some more over your food when you are done cooking.
Cheers!
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Hi Zuzana,
What about organic cereals?
The ingredients are as follows:
Organic whole wheat flour
organic wheat bran
granulated sugar cane juice
organic flaxseeds
organic oat bran
organic barley malt extract
sea salt
tocopherols (added to enhance freshness)
Thanks!
Zuzana and Frederick,
Do you have some breakfast ideas other than…
steel cut oatmeal
yogurt
1 egg with egg whites
whole grain toast with peanut butter
fruit
Thanks!
great article!
just a (small) point: as an italian, i must say that we don’t put pepper onto salad ;) just some extra virgin olive oil & vinegar. salt also is an option (i usually skip it), balsamic vinegar too (too sugary!)
i’ll start today with jour beginner workout, thank you so much fot providing such quality content!
I really enjoyed that post, I am a little puzzled, and have a tiny question. Can I send you an email?
I RECENTLY FOUND YOUR PAGE AND I LOVE IT. I WANNA GET FIT BUT ALL THIS DIET THING SOMETIMES MAKES ME QUIT. I WANNA GET SLIM AND LOOK HEALTHY FIT BY SUMMER I WANN TO LOOSE 20 LB CAUSE AM 5′3 AND AM 126LB I HAVE A CLOSET FULL OF CLOTHES THATS DOESN’T FIT AND I THINK YOUR VIDEOS ARE GREAT AND WILL HELP ME REACH MY GOAL. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK AND SEE YOU AROUND.
Hello Zuzana,
I read in one of your posts that you eat 5 to 6 times a day. My question is how do you calculate your food portions? Do you calculate each portion of protein, carbs, fat per meal, or do you weigh your food no matter what it consists of? Also, what do your snacks consist of? By the way, I just found out about your website from a friend and I really think it’s great. It really gets me going since I was stuck in a rut exercise-wise. I feel like I’m pushing my limits again.
Thanks Zuzana
Waiting for your reply.
Hi Mel – we don’t get into the whole carbs / fat / calories / protein thing. We try as much as possible to eat real whole foods and avoid processed garbage. It’s really about developing body awareness and listening to your body. It gets to the point when you know that you have had enough. From that point you can just kind of eyeball your portion sizes. Much easier then stressing about calories.
To make bread crumbs I don’t use any thing but bread put in blender. olive oil & balsamic vinegar is great I don’t buy creamy crap dressing pre-made dressings I make my own so I know what’s in them, you can use lemon, Avcardo, coriander & garlic herbal paste, 2 teaspoons of olive oil, it’s yummy lol! Home made broth what a good idea better for you too. What about dairy products? I use low fat milk and cheese etc.
Hi,
Thx for a great site! loads of inspiration!
as i write to you zuzana and fredrick I am lying home sick. do you have any tips on how to get better (eccept loads of water and nice foods), also I am kind of bored so i wonder do you have a tip for things to do or read on the net?
Last of all:
I want you all to get my very own nice salad dressing!
extra virgin olive oil
japaneese soya
black pepper
lemon grass
I love this on my salad! its super frech and makes me want to eat salad all the time :)
All the best //K