Chicken - Make it or Break It. Ode to the Healthy Hot Wing!

Yesterday I found my gym abandoned and posted about having it all to myself. A friend pointed out that the Seahawks game was the likely cause. That got me thinking about my favorite football food – hot wings – glorious hot wings - also known as chicken gone waaaay wrong. It’s kinda crazy how much fat, carbs, and cals can get crammed into previously nearly purely protein poultry. You don’t have to live like that anymore fellow wing lover – if it was an incurable craving when I trained for EC I have a cleaned up version of that former cheat meal. Hot wings are no exception =)

*KFC and Red Robin nutrition  stats derived directly from their respective  websites 11/5/12.

The Protein Pancake Showdown

The Protein Pancake Showdown

I've been hearing about protein pancakes for quite a while, but haven’t tried them. Some use egg whites, some whole eggs, some protein powder. The beauty of the protein pancake is that it is so customizable. The other beautiful thing is that I hate straight egg whites and this is a fantastic way to eat them while entirely avoiding their taste and texture.

This morning Rich and I each took a turn at creating a protein pancake. Having a highly physical job, his dietary goals are drastically contrasted to mine. He has to make an effort to keep weight on (Lucky bastard! Love him anyways of course :) so it’s appropriate that his pancake came out with mass gainer stats. On the other hand, I sit in an office all day and have to fight all my natural eating tendencies to not put on weight. Handily, my pancake has the perfect stat ratio to facilitate a lean body composition– if I can stay on track past breakfast that is ;)

The pancakes may be ugly, but I thought mine was tasty and filling. Rich's turned out a little bit dry, but he thought he overcooked it. It had a nice peanut butter flavor. We are going to keep tweaking them. Next up, we will try adding a little baking powder for increased fluffiness.                

To stay on track come lunch the following recipe (ingredients all courtesy of Trader Joe’s) is easy to prep on the weekend and take for weekday lunches with 2 cups of steamed or raw green veggies.

As for daytime snacks, dinner and the danger zone (aka after dinner late night snacking) I’m finding the app Lose It! to be the best possible assist in sticking to my intentions. P.S. It’s free and available for iPhone, Android, and online. The best part of the app is that it will track your macros and calculate ratios for you.- something I used to do, rather tediously, by hand. As you can see I'm off track and easing back into high protein low carb. With some attention to detail and continued motivation I'll be at 40(Protein)/40(Carbs)/20(Fat) soon =)