Shannan’s Journey

Hi guys and gals…

I have some good for ya foods again… recipes that will help you attain your goals These are great because you can eat them morning, noon, and night and you can take them on the go in a tupperware container.

Everyone eats eggs when dieting and even when we are not dieting, but we all get bored of them because well, they are just sort of a taste-less item on the breakfast menu, and unless you get somewhat creative with them they will always just be bland eggs. Here are a couple things to try and you can also make extra and keep it in the fridge for later or the next day.

Egg White Frittatas:

1 1/2 c. broccoli florets

1/2 c scallion

1/2 c tomatos, any kind you like, chopped (preferably seeded and drained)

1/2 red and yellow peppers

Nonstick cooking spray, like Pam

5 egg whites

1/2 teaspoon cilantro or basil,

chopped 1 garlic clove,

salt & pepper to taste

** Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Saute all chopped veggies in a pan with the cooking spray. Spray a deep glass pie plate with cooking spray. Next place all veggies in the pie plate. In a mixing bowl mix together herbs, garlic and egg whites. Pour over the veggies in pie plate and bake in oven for about 20 minutes or until eggs are set. Remove and cut into wedges and serve, hot or cold. ——

Egg White Bites:

6-12 egg whites only,

2-3 plum tomatos or any kind you like, chopped, seeded and drained

** you may add 1/2 c. spinach,

1/2 onion chopped, or even mushrooms for variety

dried basil cooking spray

** Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a muffin tin with cooking spray. Drop an egg white or two into each of the wells of the muffin tin. Toss a little of each veggie you want on top of the eggs in each well. Place in oven center rack and bake for 6-9 minutes or until desired doneness. Serve it up!!! ———– 

Enjoy it all my protein loving friends-

Shannan

“So called pleasures, when they go beyond a certain limit, are but punishments.” ~ Seneca from Letters from a Stoic

Greek philosophers like Aristotle, the Stoics were/are all about self-control, self-mastery and virtuous living. Does this sound familiar…??

“For both excessive and insufficient exercise destroy one’s strength, and both eating and drinking too much or too little destroy health, whereas the right quantity produces, increases or preserves it."  Anonymos-

We have to remember that “so-called pleasures,” when they go past a certain point, become punishments. 

It is very common for us to misinterpret the pleasure vs. punishments dilemma.

We need to continue to strive for BALANCE.

In our daily lives of routine, strict exercise and eating behaviors, it is essential for us to know that taking anything too far only leads to punishment!  To our friends, family, and selves!

Think about the PLEASURES you have in your life, and are you taking them so far that they’ve become PUNISHMENTS?

It could be your diet, watching a bit too much TV, eating too much, spending too much time online, spending too much money to fill a void or, anything else that is out of the norm.

It is true that we may find we are going to extreme during dieting but remember to regroup after and realize that too much of something can and will lead to excessive behavior and possible punishment.

Just a little something to ponder: 

You may not be the only one who suffers…. your boy/girlfriend, husband/wife, mom and/or dad, or friends might be as well.  Your loved ones suffer with you and for you because they care-  Be kind to those around you especially if you know that you do certain things excessively.

Why is knowing about the emotions of cancer important to people affected by cancer?
Living with cancer is an experience that can affect every aspect of your life. Not only is your body affected, but also your mind and your spirit. You may experience many emotional reactions to all of these changes. When cancer treatment ends, the emotional effects may continue or new emotions may surface.

What do I need to know about emotions of cancer?
There is no “standard” emotional response to cancer survivorship. Each survivor is different, as is each experience. Most likely you will experience a mix of emotional reactions, some of which may even be positive. For example, you might feel satisfaction in deepening personal relationships or confidence in finding strengths within you.

On the other hand, some of your emotional reactions might be uncomfortable or confusing, and at times you may feel overwhelmed by conflicting feelings. If this is how you feel during your journey through cancer, you are not alone. Many cancer survivors say that managing their feelings can be just as difficult as dealing with their medical issues.

Changes in emotions or mood are common throughout the cancer experience. For example, at diagnosis, you may have felt afraid, sad and worried. Perhaps you felt more confident after you decided on a treatment plan. During treatment, you might have had many changes in your mood. Many cancer survivors describe the treatment time as an emotional roller coaster—some days are “up” while other days are “down.”

After treatment ends, many survivors are surprised to find that they continue to have changes in their emotions or mood. For some, completing active treatment brings a time of great emotional distress. Many survivors describe the time after treatment as one of the most emotional—and unusual—periods of their lives. You may have similar reactions as you adjust to life after cancer treatment. Understanding what some of these emotions are can help you manage them and feel confident about survivorship.

What steps should I take to address emotions of cancer?
Paying attention to your feelings, especially uncomfortable feelings, can be hard when you and others may have wanted and expected to just get on with life. Yet paying attention to your emotional reactions after treatment has ended is important for many reasons.

Expressing emotions instead of keeping them inside lowers stress and promotes mental and physical health. Ongoing stress can affect your hormones and your immune system, and this may slow down the healing process. There is evidence that social support as well as professional mental health support can improve the quality of life for cancer survivors.

Paying attention to your feelings can also help you:
• Make room for more positive feelings to come out—such as courage, self-confidence, hope and gratitude
• Live more fully—in mind, body and spirit
• Communicate better with family, friends and health care team members
• Maintain good relationships with family and friends
• Develop strengths that can help you manage other stress in your life
• Gain awareness and understanding of your experiences

Where can I find out more about emotions of cancer?
For more information about emotions of cancer, including suggestions for taking action and a list of resources, visit the Lance Armstrong Foundation.

In short….

Not one single nutrient or food has the power to make you fat…

** It is the sum of all the foods you eat (total calories) that results in gaining fat or not.

It does not matter if those calories come from chocolate, cookies, bread or fruit, chips, burgers, cake, or tuna.  Of course the nutritional values differ in terms of fiber, vitamins, minerals etc, and what the foods can do for your body differs, but the total CALORIES are still going to be your total daily CALORIES regardless of where it comes from.

If you have too many calories per day consistently, and I am talking about everyday or, many days a week, ESPECIALLY if your activity level is low, then you may have a slight to good chance of weight gain, but in total honesty, with all the activity a lot of us do, all the hard weight workouts we do, all the running or spin classes we do, it IS very unlikely that any of us gain just gain tons of fat weight from eating a normal set amount of calories with a better than normal activity level.

The one thing we all need to look at more closely is our activity level, our energy output and our calorie input.

We need to realize how much food we put into our mouths each day compared to the amount of activity we do…. how much do you do cardio and/or train compared to the amount of food you KNOW you put into your stomach…??? Normally there is a BIG disparity with the two. 

**You CAN afford to eat more than say the average person does if you are someone with an extremely high level of activity, (and everyone differs in the wht their total calories should be)…  But lets say for example a runner, someone who runs 6+ miles per day, 30+ miles a week or, someone who does a combo of that in duration and intensity plus weight training… that person will be able to eat a greater amount of calories than someone who does half the amount.

It seems simple and like something we all already know—  but then why are so many people confused and don’t get how to lose weight or fat weight..??  It then becomes about consistancy.  How constant do you follow a plan that you start on for nutrition and workouts…??  Most start and stop within 1 week !!!  Shocking, but clearly why there is a problem.

We all work out at a time that’s most convenient for us. For many, that’s after the workday has ended. This means that you’ve been working for eight or nine hours, fought rush-hour traffic to get to the gym, then had to deal with an overcrowded facility.

Is it any wonder so many people just give up and stop training? The solution for many is as simple as a slight change in schedule. Instead of training in the late afternoon or early evening, have you ever thought about going to the gym in the morning? Anyone who trains in the AM is already familiar with the various benefits, but let me enlighten those of you who consider waking up at five A.M. to hit the gym the highest form of insanity. As you’ll soon see, you’re crazy not to work out in the morning, if your schedule allows for it.

More energy
The human body is a little bit like a rechargeable battery. When we awake from a good night’s sleep, we are refreshed, re-energized, and fully awake (after a cup of coffee, for many of us, that is). The whole day is in front of us. Then we commute to work, perhaps after feeding and dressing children and shuttling them off to school. After our allotted hours of work, it’s clear that we’re starting to lose steam. In fact, if most of us had the chance to take a nap at three or four o’clock, we would probably sleep like babies. If you train at five, six, or seven o’clock at night, I doubt you would have as much energy as you would like to devote to your workout. How could you? Your body clock is winding down toward sleep already!

Though it will initially be a shock to your system waking up earlier and getting to the gym, within a week or so your body will adapt. You’ll find you have a great deal more energy training early in the morning than you did later in the day, and the workout will also serve to make you more alert at your job.

All those sweet endorphins flowing through your body, plus the rewarding feeling of a tight muscle pump and honest sweat, are an awesome way to start your day.

Less crowds– Few things are as frustrating as walking into the gym at evening rush hour and seeing that the place is so jam-packed with people that there is a waiting line for virtually every piece of weight training and cardio equipment. At some gyms the windows are even fogged up from all the breathing, sweating bodies.

Not only does this mean your workout might take twice as long, but you’ll probably lose your pump and get cold while waiting to do your sets. Any gym on a Monday or Tuesday night from about five to eight PM is going to be a zoo. What do you expect? Most people don’t train on weekends, then feel obligated to work out after work on Monday and Tuesday.

Get to the gym at least 3 times a week and it doesn’t matter when you go…  JUST GO !!!!!

What you need @ the gym… You need— *aerobic room* treadmill, medicine ball, resistance band, body bar or barbell, and dumbbells…

Warmup 5-6 min

( in aerobic room ) 4 laps of side shuffles, repeat alternating direction
4 laps of jog forward / backward, alternating direction
4 laps of high knees forward / backward, alternating direction
4 laps of ‘karoking’ (grapevine)
4 laps alternating lunges…. then STRETCH

RUN 1/2 mile on treadmill (4-5 min )

set up stations… and perform each set 2 times through - 30 sec.@ each station
~ 18 min total

———————————–

Set 1:

medicine ball squat thrust
resistance band bicep curls
body bar wide stance squats
pony taps on step
alternating stationary lunges

Set 2:

medicine ball close grip pushups
resistance band upright rows
body bar squats w/ front raise
side to side agility on step
pop lunges

Set 3:

medicine ball walkouts
resistance band kickbacks
body bar squats w/ overhead press
in/outs on step
pop squats

* use length aerobic room * ~ 8 min

3 sets - bearcrawl down - sprint back
3 sets - jump squat down - back pedal back
3 sets - shuffle down and shuffle back
3 sets - quick plate drags

Stationary spot - 3 sets following ~10 min

* side to side hops 30 sec./ 5 pushups / 30 sec crunches
* front to back hops 30 sec / 5 pushups / 30 sec crunches
* mountain climbers 30 sec / 5 pushups / 30 sec crunches

cool down - 5 min walk on treadmill and STRETCH

Go home and eat a GOOOOOD healthy meal—-

Fat Head– (the movie)….

 -article by MD eades-

A couple of years ago I got an email from a guy named Tom Naughton asking if he could come interview me for a movie he was making that was supposed to kind of be a counterpoint to Morgan Spurlock’s Super Size Me! I hadn’t seen Spurlock’s film at the time, but I new enough about it that I was wary of anyone who wanted to make a film maybe showing fast food places in a positive light.  I wrote Tom back and suggested we talk.  Once he had me on the phone, Tom was able to make me realize that his film was not pro fast food, but was pro personal responsibility.  And that it was pro low-carb, since the diet he went on and lost weight on eating at nothing but fast food restaurants was a low-carb diet.

He came to visit with all his movie making paraphernalia and we set to the interview, which I wrote about in a previous post.  We kept in contact over the intervening years, and I watched multiple versions of the film as it evolved and got better and better with each new iteration.  Finally, Tom called to tell me Fat Head was finished.  MD and I attended the premiere of the movie a few weeks ago (we are pictured above with Tom at said premiere), and I can tell you that folks were laughing their heads off.  It’s a very funny movie made by a guy who is a professional comedian.  Along with being funny, however, the film is exceedingly thought provoking.  I can’t imagine anyone who might be anti low-carb watching it and coming away feeling the same.

Tom has been dogged in his mission to actually get this film made and distributed.  And he has succeeded in a world where few do, the world of the independent filmmaker.  He has a distributor (which is the movie equivalent to a book agent) and has already had the film picked up in some foreign venues.  Today, Feb. 3, Fat Head goes on sale at Amazon.com. I urge you to click here to get a copy and watch it.  You’ll be glad you did.

One of the questions I’m asked constantly by people who have achieved success on low-carb diets is what can we all do to help spread the word?  I always tell them to buy books (and not just mine) and give them away or loan them out.  The response I almost always get is that no one will read a book.  Well, they will probably watch a movie, especially one as funny and entertaining as Fat Head.  Even if you don’t buy one to give to someone, buy one for yourself because the movie is a real treat.  Can you think of a  better way to spend a pleasant hour and a half than to watch a bunch of low-fat twits get pilloried.?  Plus, Tom has witnessed firsthand the power of the low-carb diet to improve health and bring about weight loss, and has not just exulted in his own success, but has put his money where his mouth is.  He had financed every cent of this movie out of his own hip pocket.  And, as we all know, movie are not inexpensive to produce.  He has done a great service for the low-carb community, and we need to do our part to help pay him back. And to encourage others to take the risk to move the ball closer to the goal.

If you want to get a little taste of what the movie is all about and watch some video clips, check out the website.
To get an even more in depth take on the movie, here is an interview I did with the filmmaker himself.

Q:  What inspired you to make a film challenging Super Size Me?
A:  I actually didn’t set out to take on Super Size Me.  I began this project thinking it would be maybe a half-hour humor piece about how we treat fat people in American society.  I watched Super Size Me as part of my research.  And to be honest, I thought Super Size Me was very well done and very amusing, but at the time a couple of things about it really bugged me.  One was the overall premise, that it’s McDonald’s fault people are getting fatter.  That’s ridiculous.  Ronald McDonald can’t force you to eat anything, and most people eat at McDonald’s once in awhile, not everyday.

But what really bugged me was when I realized Spurlock’s math didn’t add up.  I spent a good part of my adult life as a serial dieter, so I have a pretty good idea what the calorie counts are at McDonald’s.  When Spurlock’s nutritionist told him he was consuming 5000 calories per day, alarm bells went off in my head.  There’s no way you can consume that many calories at McDonald’s if you’re following his supposed rules.

Q:  So in your opinion, Super Size Me is essentially dishonest.
A:  Yes, it’s dishonest.  Long before I saw it, I heard people talk about how Super Size Me shows what would happen if you just ate three meals per day at McDonald’s.  But that’s not what it shows.  It shows what would happen if you decided to stuff yourself like crazy so you could gain weight and make a movie about it.  You could stuff yourself at a vegan restaurant and gain just as much weight, if that was your goal.

Q: You did exactly the opposite:  you ate nothing but fast food for a month and lost weight.  How did you manage that?
A:  I did it by intentionally ignoring the standard-issue nutrition advice.  My doctor of course warned me that if I was going to live on fast food, I should eat as many salads and grilled chicken breasts as I could so I wouldn’t consume too much fat.  But I knew better.  I ate a lot of fat, because fat is what keeps you feeling full and satisfied.  But I did limit my carbohydrates to about 100 per day, because that’s the real key to losing weight, at least for me.

Q:  You say you ignored the standard advice because you knew better.  How did you know better?
A:  Personal experience for one.  Low-fat diets never worked for me.  I’d lose a little weight and then stall, plus I’d end up feeling lethargic and depressed.  The first time I really lost weight and felt good doing it was when I tried The Zone diet, which was the first time I seriously cut down on my carbohydrates.

Q:  The Zone diet isn’t exactly a low-carbohydrate diet.
A:  No, but keep in mind, I’d been living on a more or less vegetarian diet because I thought it was good for my health, so I was eating a lot of rice and potatoes and pasta.  That seems crazy to me now, because of course I kept gaining weight in spite of working out regularly and walking several miles per week.  I just figured it was because I was getting older.
So when I finally tried The Zone diet, I was consuming maybe 170 carbohydrates per day, which isn’t exactly low, but it was a lot lower than I’d been consuming.  And the weight started to drop off.  I didn’t understand much about the effects of insulin at the time, but I did understand that cutting back on sugar and starch was making it so I could lose weight without feeling like I was starving.

Q:  On your fast-food diet, you counted calories as well as carbohydrates.  How many calories did you consume, and what did you eat to stay under the limit?
A:  I set a target of 2000 calories per day and kept it pretty close to that.  Unlike Morgan Spurlock, I’m not afraid to show people what I consumed, so my daily menus are posted on our web site, but to answer the question, I basically lived on a diet that’s about midway between The Zone and Protein Power.  Since I wanted to do an honest fast-food diet, I consumed more starch than I would on a true low-carb diet.

So a typical day might be two Egg McMuffins with only half of each muffin and an order of hash browns for breakfast, a double quarter-pounder with cheese for lunch, and another one for dinner, or maybe one of their chicken salads.  I also ate a lot of the chicken strips, which are pretty tasty, but unfortunately that meant I was taking in some trans fats.  I think they’ve finally gotten rid of the trans fats, but they were still using them for frying when I was on the diet.

Q:  And you ate nothing but McDonald’s?               �
�                                                                                          A:  It was all fast food, and it was mostly McDonald’s, but it wasn’t all McDonald’s.  I also ate at Carl’s Jr., KFC, Taco Bell, Burger King and a couple of others.  I ate at least one or two meals at McDonald’s pretty much every day.

Q: Was it difficult, eating nothing but fast food for a month? I don’t think I could do it.  In fact, I’m not sure I could eat nothing but fast food for a week.
A:  It got a little tiresome by the end.  I was bored with eating the same half-dozen meals over and over.  That’s why I thought it was ridiculous when Spurlock played up the idea that McDonald’s food is addicting.  Addictions are progressive.  People consume more and more of the addicting substance, despite the bad effects it’s having on their health.  After eating nothing but fast food for a month, I didn’t touch the stuff for awhile.  Addicting?  Give me a break.

Q:  Are you worried that you’ll be seen as an apologist for the fast-food industry?  After all, they’re not exactly selling health food. As you may recall, that’s one of the reasons I was hesitant to even be interviewed for this movie.
A:  No, they’re not selling health food, and I don’t portray it as health food in this film.  In fact, when I met with some people from McDonald’s to get permission to shoot in their restaurants, I made it clear I wasn’t going to claim their food is good for you.
But it doesn’t have to be bad for you either if you’re smart about the choices you make, and that’s one of the main points I was trying to make in this film.  You can make good choices or bad choices at McDonald’s, just like you can make good choices or bad choices in the grocery store.  People are going to eat fast food in today’s society, like it or not, so they may as well learn to make reasonably smart choices.

Q:  And McDonald’s had nothing to do with this film being made?
A:  Other than giving me permission to shoot in their restaurants, no.  And even that took some doing on my part.  After what Spurlock did to them, they were understandably a bit skittish about allowing some guy with a camera to come in and film himself eating there.

Q:  So you lost weight on a fast-food diet, and you demonstrate pretty convincingly that Morgan Spurlock’s numbers don’t add up.  But there’s a whole lot more to this film than just disputing Super Size Me.
A:  Absolutely.  Once I started working on this film and doing some research into the so-called obesity epidemic and what’s really causing it, and especially once I started looking into the research on fat and cholesterol and heart disease, I was stunned at how much nonsense passes for real science these days.  Most of the dietary advice we’ve been hearing for the past 40 years is just plain wrong.  In fact, it’s worse than wrong; it’s harmful. That’s when it began to sink in with me that this film should be way more than just a reply to Super Size Me.  I changed the focus of the film significantly as I went along.

Q:  You call it the “so-called” obesity epidemic.  Do you really believe there is no obesity epidemic?
A:  You and I have already debated this one back and forth, so let me clarify my position for your readers.  There are definitely more fat people in America now than when I was a kid.  Look around any busy public place, and you’ll see these big, heavy people going by.  So I’m not disputing that we’ve gotten fatter.
But when I look around, say, a mall or an airport, most of the people I see don’t look overweight to me, so I don’t buy this notion that two-thirds of us are overweight.  And I certainly don’t think a quarter of all Americans are obese.  The figures have been wildly exaggerated, both by the Centers for Disease Control and by the weight-loss industry, each for their own reasons.

Q:  What are those reasons?  What do they gain by exaggerating the numbers?
A:  The CDC needs epidemics to justify their budget.  They were originally created to wipe out real diseases, things like polio and influenza and malaria.  Well, you’re not going to catch obesity from some virus floating around, you’re not going to get it from the person sitting next to you, so frankly, I don’t think this is even the CDC’s problem to tackle.
The weight-loss industry wants obesity declared a disease so they can get insurance reimbursements for weight-loss treatments and weight-loss drugs.  But to make that happen, they’ve got to create the impression of this looming national health crisis.  So they use stupid measurements like the Body Mass Index to juke up the statistics.  And by focusing on people’s weight or BMI, they’re going after the wrong problem.

Q:  In your film, you say the real epidemic is high blood sugar.  Why do you say that?
A:  On your blog, you frequently write about how researchers often confuse correlation with causation.  That’s what I think has happened with the so-called obesity epidemic; they’ve confused a cause with a symptom.   We know fat people tend to have more health problems, so they decided being fat is the cause of all these health problems.  But being fat isn’t the cause; it’s a symptom.  And it’s also possible to be fat and healthy.

I’m a walking example of that.  A typical checkup for me goes something like this:  “Well let’s see … blood pressure is good, blood sugar is normal, resting heart rate is very good, triglycerides are excellent, HDL is outstanding, stress-test results are excellent, muscle tone is very good.  You’re healthy as a horse, Mr. Naughton.  But you really should go on a low-fat diet and try to lose 20 or 30 pounds.”  And I’m usually hearing this from some doctor who probably couldn’t keep up with me on one of my five-mile hikes.

So again, I don’t think carrying around some extra weight is a health hazard all by itself.  But high blood sugar is unhealthy, no doubt about it.  And we’ve got millions and millions of people these days walking around with high blood sugar.  Just look at the skyrocketing rate of type II diabetes over the past few decades.  We have people in my family who are thin and look good in their clothes, but they have type II diabetes.  So I think it’s misguided to focus so much on being fat or thin.  The focus should be on keeping your blood sugar normal.  Do that and the weight will probably take care of itself over time.

Q:  You blame the blood-sugar problems we have today on poor old George McGovern.
A:  Well, he was certainly part of it.  Going back at least as far as Ancel Keys, we’ve had this misguided attempt to reduce heart disease by telling people to cut back on dietary fat, or to avoid animal fats and switch to vegetable fats.  It didn’t seem to occur to any of them back then that heart disease rates were going up precisely at the same time that people were consuming less animal fat and more of these Frankenstein vegetable fats, like chemically processed corn oil and soybean and margarine.

So George McGovern didn’t start the anti-fat campaign, but unfortunately he gave it the official stamp of approval from the federal government, and that’s when a lot of people began to take it seriously.  That’s when you couldn’t walk into a bookstore or open a newspaper without seeing all these books and articles telling us to cut back on fat and eat more whole grains.  So we became a nation of starch-eaters, and the rest is history.

Q:  You make several references to Gary Taubes’ Good Calories, Bad Calories in your film.  How much influence did Gary’s book have on the direction of the film?
A:  I was already finished with my third edit of Fat Head when Good Calories, Bad Calories hit the bookstores, although I had read some of Gary’s articles while researching the film, and those were certainly eye-opening.
When I finally read Good Calories, Bad Calories, it blew me away.  I finally understood, at the cellular and hormonal level, how carbohydrates had made me fat over the years, and why low-fat diets always made me ravenously hungry and depressed.

I finally understood why there are so many frustrated dieters in the world, trying to lose fat on diets that are basically telling their bodies to store fat.  And I understood why people like my wife and son can’t seem to gain weight no matter what they eat.  They’re not skinny because they’re more disciplined than the rest of us; they just have bodies that reach homeostasis at a very low levels of fat accumulation.  If my wife is hungry, she eats.  She doesn’t starve herself into being thin.
So I did some fairly substantial cutting to make room for what I learned from Gary’s book.  And after you put me in touch with him, he generously agreed to proof the script for technical accuracy.  I knew I’d have to simplify the science quite a bit in order to translate it into a film for the general public, but I wanted to avoid simplifying to the point of being incorrect.  Gary helped me keep it simple, but accurate.

Q:  Gary’s work is highlighted in the film, but he doesn’t appear in any interviews.  Were you unable to work out the logistics for an interview?
A:  I would’ve happily flown to New York or wherever to get Gary on film, and he was open to the idea, but his publisher wasn’t crazy about the idea of him appearing in a film that’s billed as a comedy-documentary.  There are a lot of silly moments in this film, all those animated cartoon bits and such, and his publisher was afraid it would detract from Gary’s credibility among the white-coat crowd.

And I think his publisher probably made the right call.  Much as I would’ve loved to have Gary talk about his own work in my film, I understand that his mission right now is to convince the medical and academic types that the prevailing dietary theories are wrong, and I wouldn’t want to be responsible for giving those people any reason to ignore him.  So he can attack their misguided theories with serious science, and I’ll attack them with humor.  Two fronts, same battle.

Q:  Speaking of humor, there’s quite a lot of it in your film.  How much of that was planned, and how much of it just happened?
A:  I’d always planned for this to be a comedy, even back when it was going to be a short piece about how we treat fat people.  I spent a lot of years as a traveling standup comedian, and I like producing funny material.  It comes naturally to me.
But the humor also serves an important, calculated purpose:  it makes people want to watch the film.  Funny documentaries get far more attention on average than serious documentaries.  They get more press coverage, and they sell more copies.

So a lot of the humor was planned, definitely.  The animations, the songs, the scenes where I parody Spurlock, those were all by design.  But some of the funniest moments were a matter of good, old-fashioned luck.  I conducted several hours of person-on-the-street interviews, and some people just happened to be funny.  That’s luck.  On the other hand, some people were funny when I had the lens cap on, or didn’t notice the battery had gone dead.  That’s bad luck.  I had more good luck than bad, so I’ll take it.
Q:  As you explain to the viewers near the end of the film, I encouraged you to try a high-fat, very low-carb diet to see what would happen with your lipids.  You went on what you called a “saturated-fat pigout” for a month, and your total cholesterol went down and your HDL went up, as I predicted.  But you didn’t mention what happened with your weight during that month.  Did you gain or lose?
A:  Yes, after our first interview, you told me off-camera that I could prove to myself that the Lipid Hypothesis was wrong, and I did, to my great relief.  To tell you the truth, I was kind of sweating it out, waiting for the lab results to come back.  I believed what you were telling me, but after a month of eating burgers and steaks and bacon and eggs, there was part of me wondering if I was going to get back a lipid panel that would just say “You’re going to die” across the top.  If my cholesterol numbers had gone all out of whack, it wouldn’t have done very much for the premise of my film.  But as you predicted, the numbers all improved.

To answer your question, I lost two pounds during that month.  That doesn’t sound like much, but I was eating a lot of high-fat, high-calorie food, and I wasn’t exercising much because I was swamped with work, so the fact that I lost any weight at all impressed me.

Q:  So it wasn’t just a matter of counting calories…?
A:  It couldn’t be just about the calories.  If you go by the simple calories-in, calories-out equation the so-called experts are always harping on about, I should’ve gained weight during that month.

I kind of repeated that experiment again later.  I was booked on a cruise ship for five weeks as a comedian, and of course cruises are notorious for being diet-busters.  So during those five weeks, I ate burgers, steaks, bacon, sausage, eggs, seafood and salads with bleu cheese dressing.  I didn’t touch bread or potatoes or rice.   I limited my alcohol consumption to a little red wine here and there.  Since the performers work at night, on a lot of days I had a fourth meal after midnight.  There’s no way this was a low-calorie diet in disguise, as some of the low-carb critics like to claim.  At the end of the five weeks, I weighed exactly the same.  Calories in versus calories out can’t explain that result.

Q:  How did working on this film change your own dietary habits?
A:  I used to more or less limit my carbs, but I also granted myself a lot of “special occasion” days where I had the bagel, or the lasagna, or the chicken-fried steak.  After all the books and articles I read for this film, and especially after reading Good Calories, Bad Calories, I’m a lot stricter, and frankly, it’s easier to pass up those foods.  If I look at a baked potato, I see a big glob of sugar sitting there.

I also don’t worry about saturated fats and cholesterol at all.  In fact, I believe they’re good for me.   I’ve noticed that when the flu goes around, or when practically everybody I know has a cold, I pretty much never come down with anything.  Maybe it’s just a placebo effect, but I truly believe the butter and the coconut oil and the egg yolks and the beef fat I consume keep my immune system strong.

Q:  What kind of reactions are you getting from people who’ve seen the film?
A:  That’s what is really gratifying, seeing how this film affects other people.  My composer swore off sugar and starch after working on the film, and he lost 15 pounds.  Same thing happened with my sound engineer.  He realized his morning bowl of whole-grain cereal wasn’t actually good for him, and he switched back to eating meat and eggs for the first time in decades.  He lost 15 pounds, which is great, but even more importantly, he was able to stop taking Prilosec.  He’d been taking that stuff every day for years.  All of his digestive disorders are gone, and he feels healthy.  At our premiere party, he told me this film had literally changed his life.

Q:  So what’s happening with the film now?  What’s next?                   �
�                                                                                                                                              A:  Now it’s up to the distributors.  The U.S. distributor is getting the film into the big video stores and department stores, and it’s already selling on Amazon.  The international distributor is selling to the DVD and TV markets in a couple dozen countries.  It turned out the world-wide premiere was on a satellite network in Israel back in December.  I started getting all these emails from people in Israel, asking me questions about the film, or just wanting to know when they could buy it on DVD.

Q:  Any plans for a follow-up film, or a film on a different topic?
A:  I have some ideas for future projects, but no concrete plans yet.  I bankrolled Fat Head myself, so first I have to wait and see if it generates a healthy profit.  If it does, I’ll definitely make another film.  This project took an incredible amount of work, way more work than I thought it would be when I started it, but at the same time, it was a blast.  Other than being on stage doing standup comedy, this is about as much fun as I’ve ever had while working.

If you’re tired of boring, bland chicken breasts, try these poultry recipes aimed to please.

1. Quick Garlic Coated Chicken

Ingredients

1 tablespoon of olive oil
2 chicken breasts
Lemon juice
Garlic cloves
Makes 2 servings

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Brush both sides of chicken breasts lightly with olive oil. Place chicken in an 8 x 8 baking dish and squeeze lemon juice over top. Place garlic cloves in the dish and cook for 30 to 40 minutes, or until heated through.

Nutrition Information

Calories: 160
Fat: 7 grams
Carbohydrates: 0 grams
Fiber: 0 grams
Protein: 24 grams

2. Easy Olive Coated Chicken Breast

Ingredients

2 chicken breasts
1 tablespoon of olive oil
8 large olives, sliced
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 tablespoon of lemon juice
Dash of salt
Dash of pepper
Makes 2 servings

Directions

Cook chicken breasts as desired (bake, grill, or sauté in skillet). Combine all other ingredients in a bowl and serve over chicken breasts.

Nutrition Information

Calories: 323
Fat: 15 grams
Carbohydrates: 1 gram
Fiber: 0 grams
Protein: 46 grams

3. Chicken Vegetable Rice

Ingredients

Cooking spray
2 cups of cooked brown rice
1/2 cup of scallions, chopped
1 teaspoon of garlic, chopped
1 1/2 cups of fat-free chicken broth
1 tablespoon of cornstarch
1 cup of skinless, boneless chicken breast, chopped and cooked
2 cups of your favorite mixed frozen vegetables
1 teaspoon of rosemary
1/2 teaspoon of dried thyme
Makes 4 servings

Directions

Spray a large skillet with cooking spray (or use a little olive oil if desired). Add scallions and garlic and cook for approximately one minute. Mix cornstarch and broth together in a bowl. Add to skillet. Add all other ingredients (except rice). Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover, and cook over low heat for about six minutes. Serve over brown rice.

Nutrition Information

Calories: 168
Fat: 1.5 grams
Carbohydrates: 26 grams
Fiber: 4 grams
Protein: 13 grams

4. Chicken Marsala

Ingredients

1 tablespoon of olive oil
1/8 teaspoon of black pepper
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1/4 cup of flour*
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts or fillets (thinner chicken breasts work better)
1.5 cups of fresh or canned mushrooms, sliced
2 tablespoons of scallions or one small onion, chopped
2 tablespoons of water
Dash salt
1/2 cup of dry sherry or dry marsala, or try 1/4 cup of marsala and 1/4 cup of chicken broth*
2 tablespoons of fresh parsley, chopped (garnish)
Makes 4 servings

Directions

Mix together salt, pepper, and flour. Coat chicken with this mixture. Heat approximately one tablespoon of olive oil in a large skillet. Add coated chicken breasts and cook over low-medium heat until brown on both sides and no longer pink inside. Once cooked, remove from heat and set aside.

Add mushrooms, chopped scallions or onions, water, and salt to skillet. Cook over low-medium heat until mushrooms are tender and the liquid has almost evaporated (about five to ten minutes). Add marsala or dry sherry to skillet and cook until hot. Spoon sauce over chicken. Top with chopped parsley if desired.

Tip: If you want to make this recipe cleaner, cut out the first step (coating the chicken with pepper, salt, and flour).

Nutrition Information

Calories: 265
Fat: 5 grams
Carbohydrates: 7 grams
Fiber: <1 gram
Protein: 48 grams

Note: Nutritional information depends on the size of the chicken breasts or fillets.

5. Chicken in White Wine

Ingredients

Cooking spray
2 chicken breasts (4 ounces each)
1 cup of fresh or canned mushrooms, sliced
1 small onion, chopped (about 1/4 cup)
1/4 cup of sundried tomatoes, sliced
1 teaspoon of dried basil
1 clove of garlic, minced
1/4 cup of chicken broth
1/4 cup of white wine*
Dash salt
Dash pepper
1 tablespoon of cornstarch
Makes 2 servings

Directions

Spray a nonstick skillet with cooking spray. Sauté mushrooms, onion, basil, sundried tomatoes, and garlic over low-medium heat until onions are glassy and tender. Stir in chicken broth, wine, salt, and pepper. Add chicken. Cook over low heat until chicken is tender and cooked through. Remove chicken. Add cornstarch and cook until thick and bubbly. Serve mixture over chicken.

Nutrition Information

Calories: 187
Fat: 3grams
Carbohydrates: 12 grams
Fiber: 2 grams
Protein: 25 grams
Alcohol: 3 grams

6. Chicken Chili

Ingredients

1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 pound chicken tenderloins cut into cubes
1 cup of onions, chopped
1 15-ounce can of white beans
1 15-ounce can of black beans
1 15-ounce can of stewed tomatoes
1 clove of garlic, minced
2 tablespoon of chili powder
Salt and pepper to taste
Makes 4 servings

Directions

Coat a nonstick skillet with olive oil. Add chicken and onions and brown chicken over low-medium heat until cooked through. Add all other ingredients and cook on low heat for approximately 15 to 20 minutes.

Tip: If you like your chili hot, add red pepper flakes and/or diced green chilies to taste. You can also top with cilantro after cooking if desired.

Nutrition Information

Calories: 226
Fat: 5 grams
Carbohydrates: 18 grams
Fiber: 5 grams
Protein: 28 grams

7. Easy Cajun Chicken and Rice

Ingredients

1 pound of boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 cups of cooked brown rice
Marinade
1/4 cup of olive oil
1 1/2 tablespoon of Cajun seasoning
Dash of black pepper
1 teaspoon of minced garlic or garlic powder
Dash of salt
Makes 4 servings

Directions

Mix all marinade ingredients together. Coat chicken with marinade for a minimum of 30 minutes (the longer it’s left in marinade the stronger it’ll be). Cook chicken as desired (bake or grill) and serve over brown rice.

Nutrition Information

Calories: 347
Fat: 16 grams
Carbohydrates: 23 grams
Fiber: 2 grams
Protein: 27 grams

Note: Nutritional information assumes chicken is evenly coated with no leftover marinade.

8. Chicken and Broccoli Salad

Ingredients

2 cups of broccoli florets, lightly steamed
1 1/2 cup of chicken breast, diced and cooked (about two, 4-ounce chicken breasts)
1 cup of cooked whole-wheat macaroni noodles (any whole wheat pasta will work)
1 teaspoon of fresh dill (or Gourmet Garden dill paste)
2 tablespoons of chicken broth
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoon of Dijon mustard
Dash of salt
Dash of pepper
Makes 4 servings

Directions

Toss broccoli, chicken, pasta, and dill in a salad bowl. In a separate bowl, stir remaining ingredients together and pour over chicken mixture. Serve.

Nutrition Information

Calories: 144
Fat: 4 grams
Carbohydrates: 22 grams
Fiber: 2 grams
Protein: 15 grams

9. Chicken and Artichoke Hearts

Ingredients

2 cups of chicken, cooked and chopped (about two, 5 or 6-ounce chicken breasts)
1 14-ounce can of artichoke hearts, drained and cut
1/4 cup of white wine
1 clove of garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon of dried basil
1 cup of skim milk
1 tablespoon of cornstarch
Dash of salt
Dash of pepper
Makes 4 servings

Directions

Mix together milk, cornstarch, salt, and pepper in a casserole dish. Add wine, garlic, basil, chicken, and artichoke hearts. Cook uncovered in a microwave for five to ten minutes or until thick, stirring every minute.

Nutrition Information

Calories: 114
Fat: 1 gram
Carbohydrates: 5 grams
Fiber: 4 grams
Protein: 17 grams

10. Thai Chicken

Ingredients

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 tablespoon of peanut oil (you can substitute another oil if desired)
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon of soy sauce*
1/4 cup of fresh basil, chopped
1/4 cup of peanuts, chopped
Makes 4 servings

Directions

Add oil to a large nonstick skillet. Coat chicken breasts with soy sauce and cook chopped garlic and chicken breasts over medium heat for approximately eight to ten minutes (flipping midway), or  until chicken is no longer pink in the middle. Top with chopped peanuts and sprinkle with basil if desired.

Nutrition Information

Calories: 202
Fat: 6 grams
Carbohydrates: <2 grams
Fiber: 3 grams
Protein: 27 grams

Clean Cookin’–

Variety is the spice of life and chicken is no exception. It’s a great source of protein and can be doctored up with spices, herbs, and vegetables and still qualify as a clean meal. You can even skip the rice or pasta if you’re cutting carbs, or substitute vegetables depending on what you have on hand.

And, the great thing about cooking is that you can often tweak recipes to your fit your tastes. In several recipes, you can also try various types of meats, such as turkey and even fish in place of the chicken.

The more you tempt your taste buds with clean recipes, the less likely you’ll be tempted by foods not fit for an Athlete.

ENJOY !!!!!