Answer Fitness®: Practical Fitness Advice for Everyone

Clean Eating: Why Eating Clean Is The Unfad Diet That Works

Clean Eating Isn’t a Fad Diet …. It’s The Real Deal. Learn the Basics of Eating Clean and Reap The Health, Weight-Loss and Fitness Rewards.

At any given time, more than two-thirds of Americans are “on a diet.” Yet only 5 percent will experience lasting weight or fat loss.  We’re a nation on a perpetual diet, yet America continues to lead the world in obesity, heart disease, Type II diabetes and metabolic syndrome — a combination of risk factors that predispose people to developing heart disease, stroke and diabetes.

Here’s the irony: Even though American’s are “dieting” more, we’re getting fatter each day.  

Enter “Clean Eating” — a simple, common-sense approach to diet and nutrition that ditches the complicated menu plans of dieting gurus; avoids the single-food focus of the worst fad diets; eschews the loopy pseudo-scientific underpinnings of “Detox Diets” and instead emphasizes sensible, nutritious eating.

In other words, follow this approach and you’ll be less hungry, more satisfied, healthier, and slimmer … for good.

Clean Eating is the ultimate “un-fad” diet. And once you get the hang of it, you’ll never be able to imagine that you thought eating cabbage soup everyday was the key to getting lean.

The Origins of Clean Eating

The concept of “clean eating” isn’t new.

While it’s a phrase you’ll hear tossed around a lot by bodybuilders, athletes and fitness models, the Clean Eating philosophy has its original roots not in the bodybuilding and fitness communities, but rather in the co-op-shopping-Birkenstock-and-granola-crowd.

That’s right, thousands of buff beach bodies can thank tofu-eating, Deadheads for helping them shape better abs, drop body fat and improve their cholesterol profile to boot.  

The Clean Eating philosophy is really based on the natural health food movement of the 1960s, which then got transformed into the “whole foods” approach to eating, which emphasizes consuming foods (preferably organic) that are unprocessed or refined as little as possible before consumption. 

Canadian fitness model and author Tosca Reno is often credited with popularizing this approach to eating with her series of Clean Eating cookbooks, but the basics of this diet have been around for decades. Fitness trainer, natural bodybuilder and Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle author Tom Venuto has been talking about “eating clean” for years, and makes it a central part of his fat-loss and muscle gain plan. 

At it’s root, the diet is so common-sense and back-to-basics, that no one really can take credit for developing this approach to diet and nutrition. 

In fact, all of the recipes and nutrition articles on Answer Fitness are been based on the Clean Eating philosophy. Until recently, I wasn’t even aware that there was an “official” Clean Eating movement out there … it was just a term that I and a lot of others had been using for years to describe healthy eating habits.

Continue reading Clean Eating: Why Eating Clean Is The Unfad Diet That Works…

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Muesli Recipes: Make Your Own Homemade Muesli!

Muesli is an inexpensive and flavorful way to get your daily grains. Learn how to make homemade Muesli with these five easy recipes.

Okay, it has a funny sounding name. But if you are looking for a high-energy, whole-grain food that will also help you get your daily dose of healthy fats and soluble fiber, and fuel your training and workouts, you have to try a bowl of Muesli … or two bowls.

Store-bought Muesli can be expensive (a 1 lb, 18-serving bag, for instance, can cost nearly $5 dollars) so it really pays off to make it yourself. Also, making your own Muesli allows you to customize the recipe based on your own particular preferences. 

And making homemade muesli is also easier than making homemade granola, since you don’t have to bake the mixture in the oven. Basically, you take the Meusli recipe ingredients, toss them together in a bowl and bag it. That’s it. It’s really that simple.

But before we actually get to the Meusli recipes, let’s take a look at the history of this cereal, as well as the health benefits that make this a great fitness food.

The Muesli Story

Muesli (pronounced muse-lee) is a breakfast cereal that has been popular in Europe — especially Switzerland — for over 100 years. It’s made from raw, rolled whole grains like oats, barley, rye, triticale, and wheat and typically contains nuts and dried or fresh fruit.

Muesli was developed by the Swiss physician Maximilian Bircher-Benner around 1900 to serve to patients in his hospital in Zurich. The diet that Bircher-Benner prescribed to his patients was heavy on whole-grains and fresh fruits and vegetables, and Bircher-Benner came up with idea of Muesli after being served a similar dish during a hike in the Swiss Alps.

While popular in Switzerland and parts of Europe for decades, it wasn’t until the health food movement of the 1960s that this tasty and uber-nutritious cereal started to gain fans in the United States. Since then, Muesli has become much more widely available not only in health food stores, but also in mainstream markets and grocery stores.

In the late-80s, Kellogg even tried to cash-in on the healthy reputation of Muesli by developing a boxed, cold cereal version of muesli called Mueslix. Unfortunately, the cereal shared very little in common with the traditional Muesli recipe, and instead had more in common with Corn Flakes than with the whole-grain masterpiece from Switzerland. Kellogg still markets Mueslix in the US and Canada, although their version is a pale-imitation of the real deal.

Continue reading Muesli Recipes: Make Your Own Homemade Muesli!…

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Quinoa Couscous Salad Recipe | Healthy Recipes

This couscous salad recipe uses the ancient super-grain Quinoa to make a cool, fluffy, high-protein, low-fat dish perfect for the summer months.

Couscous is one of my favorite summer dishes — loaded with fresh vegetables like cucumbers, red onion and tomatoes — and lean protein from chicken breast, it’s a quick, easy and healthy main course or side dish that takes advantage of summer’s bounty of fresh vegetables. This particular recipe for couscous salad uses a surprisingly tasty and nutritious substitute for the normal couscous pasta — Quinoa.

What Is Couscous?

Traditional couscous (or kuskus, in the U.K)  is technically a form of pasta, not a dish unto itself. It’s made with tiny, BB size balls of moistened semolina flour that are then coated with a light layer of fine wheat flour. The pasta is then steamed and served under a stew made from meat or vegetables. Couscous is a staple in much of Northern Africa, in the same way that pasta is a staple in Italy and rice is in Asia. It’s also popular in parts of the Middle East, Israel and even Sicily. In the U.S., many people associate couscous with a dish eaten chilled as a salad.

Nutritionally, couscous is pretty much on par with other semolina-based pastas. You can get quick-cooking versions of couscous made with whole wheat flour in the rice isle at the grocery store, which is healthier than the non-whole-wheat couscous. However, eating grains in their original whole-kernel state is even better. But making couscous salad with something like cracked wheat or whole brown rice wouldn’t result in the fluffy, airy texture that makes couscous so delicious.

That’s where the Quinoa comes in.

What Is Quinoa?

Quinoa (pronounced: Keen-Wa) is an ancient grain cultivated for more than 6,000 years in the Andean region of South America. The grain is actually the edible seeds of the goosefoot plant, which is uniquely suited for high-altitudes and has been a staple in traditional Andean diets for centuries.

The ancient Incas held the crop to be sacred, but European explorers dismissed Quinoa as “food for Indians.” Turns out they shouldn’t have been so quick to write the grain off — it is extremely high in protein (12%-18% protein), is gluten-free and easy-to-digest, is high in fiber and has a complete amino acid profile. The last point is an important one, because traditional European grains like wheat or rice do not contain all eight essential amino acids. This makes Quinoa ideal for vegetarians, vegans or people who are just trying to add more non-meat sources of protein into their diet.  It’s also high in minerals like phosphorus, iron and magnesium.

Quinoa also has an extremely fluffy, light texture and a slightly nutty flavor. This makes it a great substitute for rice — or couscous.  And it cooks quite quickly — in under 15 minutes — making it convenient and easy to prepare.

Continue reading Quinoa Couscous Salad Recipe | Healthy Recipes…

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Oatmeal, Oats & Oat Bran | Healthy Food of the Day

Learn How Including Oats, Oatmeal and Oat Bran In Your Diet Can Help You Lose Weight and Have a Healthier Heart

When it comes to healthy fitness foods, oatmeal and oats are the undisputed champions of whole grains.

Inexpensive, loaded with healthy soluble fiber, and incredibly versatile as an ingredient in everything from meat loaf to protein shakes, oats and oatmeal are a staple in the diet of nearly every bodybuilder, fitness model, athlete or healthy person.

But what makes this humble grain that usually found its way into horse and cattle feed such a nutritional powerhouse? And what if you don’t like eating oatmeal? Can you still get the benefits without the mush?

Believe it or not, oats don’t have to be served hot in bowl with cinnamon and raisins. I said this grain was versatile, remember. Read on to find out why you need to include oats in your diet, if you already aren’t.  And if a bowl of oatmeal isn’t doing it for you, we’ll look at some alternative ways of preparing them that can let you have your oats and eat them too.

A (Very) Brief History of Oats

Oats are the harvested seeds of the common oat plant (Avena Sativa).

As I mentioned earlier, oats have historically been used as an inexpensive source of feed for horses and livestock. However, humans have been eating oats as well for centuries, especially in Northern Europe, where the cool, wet weather is perfect for growing oats. The Scottish, in particular, have made oats a staple of their national diet – even lending their name to a particular form of oats known as “Scottish Oats” or “Scottish Oatmeal” (more on this later.)
Continue reading Oatmeal, Oats & Oat Bran | Healthy Food of the Day…

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!