I’m going to share some of my favorite strategies for healthy vacationing, from foods and recipes that travel well (and still taste great) to workout tips that can keep you in shape. It’s the same advice I give my clients—who range from moms and dads to pro athletes and busy businesspeople—whenever they go away. You may even come back from your trip leaner than when you started.

How Do You Eat Healthy on a Long Road Trip?

If you’re currently following a diet, sticking to it while traveling can be extremely challenging. You’ve probably already given yourself permission to go off-plan because you’re on vacation, but, if you want to avoid weight gain, you shouldn’t give yourself license to eat anything and as much of it as you like. A better strategy is to focus on what I call controlling the “controllables.” That is, make the best nutrition decisions you can under whatever circumstances you find yourself in (give or take a few).

For example, you may be out to eat at a restaurant that specializes in decadent desserts. Of course you should indulge in the chocolate soufflé at the end of the meal, but maybe you want to pass on the dinner rolls and booze. They may not have the nitrite-free salami you usually buy for keto snacks at the next gas station on the highway, but that doesn’t mean you cave in and eat the microwave pizza they offer instead. My point is that you can’t always control the food around you, but you can control what and how much you eat.

You can avoid being at the mercy of roadside food service by planning ahead and packing foods that will last in the car. Great non-refrigerated options include:

• Nuts

• Seeds

• Beef or turkey jerky

• dehydrated fruit

• dehydrated veggies

• tuna or salmon packets (many of these come pre-seasoned and are tasty right out of the bag)

All of the above are portable and durable, and can fit for most diets. They won’t take up much room in a travel bag, and they don’t mind being squished (should your luggage, or, perhaps, a small child in the backseat, happen to fall on them). They’re also pretty inexpensive; so it’s hard to justify a trip through a fast-food window for the sake of price and convenience. Furthermore, these snacks pack some serious nutrition. The jerky, tuna, and salmon are all protein-rich, which helps keep you full. You might easily eat a whole bag of pretzels or chips without giving it much thought (especially if you’re distracted by the road), but it’s hard to overeat high-protein foods, so you won’t take in huge numbers of calories that you can’t burn off. Protein foods also require more energy to digest than carb- or fat-rich foods, so your body burns more calories just by eating them.

Tuna and salmon have the added bonus of being good sources of omega-3s, essential fats that you have to get from your diet because your body doesn’t make them. Omega-3s offer a huge range of benefits, including supporting brain, heart, and joint health.

Nuts and seeds are high in fat and fiber, which, like protein, can be satiating, making them a better snack alternative than processed foods that are largely devoid of both.

Meanwhile, fruits and veggies—even dehydrated—are all loaded with vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants that help keep your immune system going strong. They’re also high in fiber. Of course, whole fruits and vegetables are fine too, and harder to overeat than the dehydrated variety, but they’re a bit more difficult to travel with (an overripe banana that gets crushed under a seat will make an awful mess and smell up the car in no time). Just think ahead and pre-wash them before you pack, so you can take them out of your bag and start noshing right away.

If you’re going long distances between rest stops and food options, you’ll also need to invest in a good cooler to pack some quality meals that last.

My crew had its share of road trips this summer, and we had two coolers that kept our cold foods cold for days on end—literally. For longer trips, we always take our OtterBox Venture 65 ($350), which, when packed properly, can keep ice for up to 16 days. It holds 65 quarts—that’s 36 12-oz cans, to put it in beer terms (because, well, you’re on vacation after all). It’s 40 inches long, and nearly 19 inches wide as well as high. The Venture 65 features an accessory mounting system so you can attach add-ons like a bottle opener and dry storage tray. Plus, as the video on their website proclaims, the cooler is “certified bear resistant… Can you say the same about your tent?”

And for those shorter trips, our OtterBox Trooper LT 30 ($300) is perfect. At 21 inches long, 17 wide, and 11 deep, this cooler has a soft outer shell and opens easily for quick access. Its main selling point is that it doubles as a backpack, so you can take it out of the car and onto the trails with you. It holds 30 quarts and is leak-proof.

Good food choices that need refrigeration include the following:

• Hard-boiled eggs

• Greek or Icelandic yogurt

• Individual kefir milks

• Organic cheese cubes, sticks, or slices

• Organic nitrite-free deli meats

• Hummus

Eggs have always been a potent and low-cost protein source, and when they’re hard-boiled, you can’t beat the convenience. (Get the organic, omega-3 rich, pasture-raised kind if you can.) Greek and Icelandic yogurt are high in protein but, unlike most other yogurts (such as those with fruit on the bottom), have less sugar per serving. If plain yogurt is too bland for you, add your own fruit or non-nutritive sweetener. (Again, organic dairy is preferable.) As with eggs, yogurt is also pretty easy to eat in a car or RV and doesn’t require much cleanup.

“What the heck is kefir,” you say? It’s essentially a drinkable yogurt that’s rich in probiotics—bacteria that support a healthy gut.

Of course, sandwiches are a traditional road-trip eating staple, and there’s no reason they can’t be healthy if you make a couple smart substitutions. Multigrain bread is a better choice than white, and for the greatest assurance of good nutrition and food safety, use certified organic meats and cheeses. Spread on some grainy mustard, or use hummus for even more fiber, add a tomato slice, and voila—you’ve got yourself a pretty satisfying (and lean) sandwich.

If you don’t have much time to pack before you hit the road and have to stock up at a gas station, you’re not without options. And, no, I’m not talking about the cheese-filled rolling hot dogs that have been rotating under glass since Hulk Hogan was the world heavyweight champ, or anything that leaves your fingers a strange, neon orange glow.

Most gas stations these days have peeled hard-boiled eggs, snack packs with cheese, nuts and dried fruit, deli meat sandwiches, and subs. For the latter, get two sandwiches/subs if you can, double the meat, and halve the bread, so you have one big sandwich that’s protein-packed. Fresh fruit, beef jerky, nuts, seeds, dark chocolate (85% or higher cocoa), protein bars, organic individual milks, fruit pouches, and nut butter packs are almost certainly going to be available as well, so don’t think you have to starve yourself till you reach your destination.

Maintaining a Healthy Diet While Camping Or Hiking

Camping out doesn’t mean you have to leave the discipline of your kitchen entirely behind. When you’re planning to eat out under the stars, think of foods that don’t need refrigeration, even if you do have a cooler. Cans and pouches of wild-caught tuna, salmon, or sardines can be incredibly valuable whether you are out in the backcountry, or just want to keep food options simple while car camping. Grass-fed beef jerky, along with alternatives such as turkey, chicken, and even salmon jerky are all amazing options that are portable, convenient, tasty, and a great source of protein and micronutrients like sodium (which can help replenish what you sweat out on a long hike).

One of my favorite campsite-friendly foods is aged, hard cheese, and not just because I grew up in an Italian family in Jersey. Parmigiano-Reggiano packs 11 grams of protein per one ounce (about the size of a pair of dice), and doesn’t need to be refrigerated! Ounce for ounce, that’s more protein than chicken, beef or fish (those each offer about seven grams per ounce). Parmigiano-Reggiano can be cubed up to make a delicious savory trail mix. (While I argued that gas station fare can be OK earlier, I’d skip their trail mixes. They’re usually more M&M’s and added sugar than nuts and dried fruit.)

What exactly is a “savory trail mix?” I like at least a 2:1 ratio of nuts to dried fruit, a little jerky, and cubes of dry aged cheese. The dried fruit offers some carbs and potassium to fuel your hikes, and the rest of the mix really serves to curb hunger. Added sugar can cause energy crashes later and hinders endurance activities, so a quality fat and protein combination is a better choice to help keep you going on long walks in the woods.

Here’s the exact recipe I make for my family.

Savory Trail Mix

• 4 handfuls salted pecans, almonds, pistachios, or walnuts (we add salt to replace the sodium that’s lost in sweat)

• 3 oz (that’s the size of 3 pairs of dice) cubed Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

• 2 handfuls dehydrated fruit (raisins, figs, dates, apricots, blueberries, etc.)

Athletes and active people tend to obsess over protein and agonize over carbs, but it’s important to remember that whole fruit is good, both for the fluids it provides, which you’ll certainly need when being active outdoors, and for its vitamins and minerals. There are plenty of fruits and vegetables that can withstand a little beating in your cooler, backpack, or even some jostling around in the back of your car. Here’s a reminder of what they are:

• Apples
• Avocados
• Berries (just be sure to pack them in a non-squishable container, or the dry storage top that comes with the OtterBox Venture cooler I suggested earlier)
• Carrots
• Oranges
• Mini peppers (great for snacking!)

Now let’s talk about grilling. Most campsites will have a grill that makes cooking a breeze (or twigs, rocks, and fire starters can make for a safe cooking environment, too). If you want to take it to the next level, consider the Looft Lighter X, a battery-operated fire starter that will light your fire in 60 seconds, guaranteed (thanks to forced air that heats up to 1200 degrees).

Leaner cuts of meat or fish will offer lots of protein with fewer calories, and all can be cooked effectively over a flame. Vegetables and potatoes make good sides.

Here are a few of my go-to camping eats.

Breakfast

Breakfast Skillet Hash

Refrigerated egg products like Egg Beaters® cut down on mess, cook quickly, and can add protein and versatility to many meals. Here’s an awesome recipe for breakfast hash.

Servings: 4

INGREDIENTS

• 2 tbsp. olive oil

• 1 large sweet potato, peeled and diced (the smaller the dice, the faster it will cook)

• ½ cup chopped onion

• ½ tsp. dried Italian seasoning, crushed

• ¼ tsp. garlic powder

• ¼ tsp. black pepper

• ⅛ tsp. salt

• 2 cups fresh baby spinach

• ½ cup refrigerated, cooked, crumbled turkey sausage

• 1 ½ cups refrigerated egg product (like Egg Beaters®)

• ½ cup shredded mozzarella

NOTE: Mix all the ingredients from the sweet potato to the spinach together ahead of time in a resealable plastic container.

DIRECTIONS

Step 1. Light firewood or charcoal and let the campfire burn down to medium-hot embers, or coals. Top with a grill rack.

Step 2. Heat a 10-inch cast iron skillet over the campfire for 5 minutes, or until very hot. Add the oil to the skillet, and the mixed ingredients noted above, stirring occasionally.

Step 3. Add the sausage. Cook 5 minutes more, or until the vegetables are tender, stirring frequently.

Step 4. Add the egg product. Cook, without stirring, until the mixture begins to set on bottom and around the edges. Using a spatula or large spoon, lift and fold the partially cooked egg mixture so the uncooked portion flows underneath. Continue cooking 2 to 3 minutes, or until the egg mixture is cooked through but is still glossy and moist. Sprinkle with the cheese.

Lunch and Snacks

Camping Charcuterie

Here’s how to bring an assortment of no-fuss foods together for a balanced meal.

Step 1. Pick a cured meat and a cheese

Step 2. Add sliced veggies and fruits

Step 3. Lay out a nut- or seed-based cracker

Step 4. Fill in with olives, pickles, or dips

All-natural deli meats need to be kept cold, but they also pack easily. Rolling up a slice around matchstick veggies, leafy greens, and cheese if you choose makes a quick lunch. Dip in hummus or mustard for a little added flavor. Nut- and seed-based crackers are more fibrous and filling than wheat-based ones, so you should eat fewer of them.

Apple Salami Bites

INGREDIENTS

• 1 apple

• 6 slices salami

• 1/2 avocado, sliced

• Organic cheddar cheese (optional)

DIRECTIONS

Step 1. Core apple and slice horizontally. Top each slice with a piece of salami. Finish off with sliced avocado. If using cheese, place between the salami and avocado.

Snack Time Skewers

One way to organize a lot of low-fuss, grab-and-go foods is to lay them out ahead of time and run a sword through them, so to speak. Skewering lunch meats, cheeses, fruits, and veggies combines them for a meal you can take on the go, and controls your portions automatically.

INGREDIENTS

Options:

• Thick cut all-natural salami

• Nitrate/nitrite-free deli meat

• Fresh mozzarella or cubed cheddar

• Bell peppers, chopped

• Cherry or grape tomatoes

• Apple, chopped

• Olives

• Cucumber, thick sliced

• Fresh berries

DIRECTIONS

After selecting and cutting your preferred ingredients, carefully add them to snack-sized skewers. As many ingredients as you can comfortably fit on the skewer is one serving. Eat right away, or store in baggies or containers to eat on the trail, or while driving.

Dinner

Grilled Salmon with Sweet Peppers

Servings: 4

INGREDIENTS

• 1 ¼ pounds skin-on salmon fillet, cut into 4 portions

• 1 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil

• ½ tsp. kosher salt, divided into two ¼ teaspoons

• 1 pound sweet mini bell peppers

• 2 medium red onions, quartered
  

DIRECTIONS

Step 1. Preheat a gas grill to high, build a fire in a charcoal grill, or build a campfire and let it burn down to high heat (about 500 degrees F).

Step 2. Brush or drizzle salmon with the oil and sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon salt. Sprinkle peppers and onions with the remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt.

Step 3. Oil the grill rack. Place the salmon, skin-side up, on the grill, along with the peppers and onions. Grill the salmon until browned, 3 to 4 minutes.

Step 4. Using a metal spatula, gently nudge one of the salmon pieces: it should release from the grill without much force, but if it feels stuck, continue cooking for another minute. When the salmon releases easily, flip and continue cooking until browned and the flesh is opaque, about 3 minutes more. Cook the peppers and onions, turning frequently, until tender and well browned—8 to 10 minutes total.

Pan-Roasted Campfire Veggies

Servings: 4

INGREDIENTS

• 1 tbsp. water

• 1 tbsp. reduced-sodium soy sauce

• 2 tsp. cider vinegar

• 1 tsp. Sriracha sauce, or more if desired

• 2 tsp. canola oil

• 1 (8 oz) package whole fresh button mushrooms

• 8 miniature sweet peppers

• ½ cup grape tomatoes

DIRECTIONS

Step 1. Light firewood or charcoal and let the campfire burn down to medium-hot embers or coals. Top with a grill rack. Heat a 10-inch cast iron skillet over the campfire for 5 minutes, or until very hot.

Step 2. While the skillet heats, add the water, soy sauce, vinegar, and sriracha sauce to a small bowl and stir together.

Step 3. Add the oil to the skillet. Add the mushrooms and sweet peppers, and cook 8 to 10 minutes, or until the vegetables begin to char, stirring once or twice.

Step 4. Add the sauce, and cook until slightly reduced. Add the tomatoes, and cook 1 minute more, stirring to coat the vegetables with sauce. Serve immediately, or at room temperature.

Dessert

Here’s a little twist on a classic treat that includes bananas for some added potassium—always a good way to replenish after a long day of hiking.

Banana S’Mohrs (see what I did there?)

INGREDIENTS

• 1 medium ripe banana

• 2 tbsp. mini marshmallows

• 1 tbsp. dark chocolate chips

• Graham crackers (optional)

DIRECTIONS

Step 1. Cut through the peel on the inside curve of the banana with a paring knife. Peel the banana open from the cut, but leave the banana in the peel.

Step 2. Being careful not to cut through the bottom peel, cut the banana in half lengthwise; then cut crosswise in 1/4-inch intervals. Gently mash the marshmallows into the sliced spaces in the banana, and then top with chocolate chips.

Step 3. Tear off a 12-inch square of heavy-duty aluminum foil. Place the prepared banana in the middle of the foil, and crimp the foil closed.

Step 4. Prepare a campfire and let it burn down to the coals. Cook the packet 4 to 6 inches above the coals until the s’more is warm and melty—7 to 10 minutes. Use graham crackers for scooping, or, to go gluten-free and cut carbs, eat it with a spoon.

If you want to make the s’mores ahead of time, assemble the packets and store in a refrigerator or cold cooler for up to 1 day.

Keto Snacks for the Road or Off the Beaten Trail

Much of what I’ve listed above can fit a keto diet or low-carb lifestyle. If that’s how you like to eat, here are a few more options that you can use to fuel your next adventure.

• Celery sticks filled with nut butter or cream cheese
• Avocado on parmesan cheese crisps
• DIY keto snack box. (Get a portioned container and put a hard-boiled egg, deli meat, chopped cucumbers and zucchini, and cheese in the different compartments.)
• Red peppers wrapped in turkey
• Keto-friendly protein bars

Hydration

Long days on the trails mean you have to be conscious of hydration, especially if you’re drinking alcohol. Have an insulated, refillable bottle topped off with water with you at all times. If you plan to be out hiking or exercising for an hour or more, an electrolyte-containing sports drink like HYDRATech^™ Instant is even better. My favorite non-water, non-alcohol beverage is Health-Ade Kombucha. A fermented tea drink, it contains probiotics that aid gut health, but it also can be used as a mixer for alcoholic drinks, so it serves a dual purpose on my vacations.

How To Stay Fit Without A Gym

For many people, the thing they miss most about being away from home is their gym. It can be hard to find a good one that has the equipment or atmosphere you want, and these days, you can’t predict if they’ll even be open when you want to go. The next best thing is to pack some light equipment to take with you. Bands, kettlebells, selectorized dumbbells, a suspension trainer, and/or weighted vest are all useful options to help you get in a workout anywhere.

Interestingly, the OtterBox Trooper LT 30 cooler I mentioned above can easily double as a weighted vest. It’s about seven pounds by itself, and is surprisingly comfortable when worn as a backpack; it won’t limit your mobility.

Of course, you always have your own bodyweight, which is more than enough to provide challenging workouts for the week or so that you’re away from the weights.

Simple bodyweight exercises include:

• Pushups (all variations)

• Air squats, jump squats

• Plank, side plank, plank walks, inchworms

• Lunges (all variations), with added backpack resistance, if needed

• Stepups onto a table, cooler, stump, rock, etc.

• Pullups, on a beam, pipe, solid tree branch, etc.

To illustrate, check out these sample workouts that require just your bodyweight, light dumbbells, or bands.

Kettlebells and steel clubs can be easy to travel with too, and will expand your workout options. A 16-kilo bell/20-pound club if you’re a man, or 8kg bell/15-pound club if you’re a woman, don’t take up much space in a back seat, trunk, or flat bed, but they’ll provide a multitude of exercises that can keep you fit on the road. See our beginner’s kettlebell workout and steel club starters’ guide if you need inspiration.

Get more nutrition info from Chris Mohr at mohrresults.com.

The post Healthy Snacks & Foods for Road Trips, Camping & Hiking appeared first on Onnit Academy.

According to Food Allergy Resource and Education (FARE), approximately 32 million people in the U.S. have food allergies. They’re not just so-called “picky eaters”; they face legitimate health problems if they eat certain foods. Gluten (the protein in wheat and other cereal grains) and nut allergies are among the most common and frustrating, since grains and nuts are widely used as ingredients in other dishes—some of which you might never expect (nuts in your vanilla ice cream, for instance).

About two-and-a-half million people can’t handle wheat, and gluten is a major contributing factor. One in 100 people worldwide is believed to have celiac disease, a severe form of gluten intolerance that falls under the banner of an auto-immune disorder. For these people, consuming gluten will actually result in damage to the intestine.

Meanwhile, more than six million people have a reaction to peanuts (technically a legume), and nearly four million need to avoid tree nuts.

If you count yourself as a member of any one of the above groups, you already know that you have to be careful about what you eat, and how your food is prepared. But you may not be aware of how many delicious—and healthy—options you still have, especially when you’re looking for a quick bite between meals. With the help of a dietician and a recipe whiz, we came up with five different gluten-free and nut-free snacks that taste great, and help you stay fit.

What Foods Should Be Avoided?

Going gluten-free means saying no to wheat, barley, and rye, and all the foods and food ingredients that can be made from them. When you add them up, it’s a long list that includes (but is NOT limited to):

• Baked goods
• Beer
• Bread
• Brewer’s yeast
• Cereals
• Condiments
• Granola
• Meat substitutes
• Milkshakes
• Pasta
• Salad dressings
• Sauces
• Soups
• Spice blends
• Syrups
• Tortillas/wraps
• Wine coolers

Of course, gluten-free options do exist for many foods, but by and large, a gluten-free diet will be devoid of what you see above. Even food coloring can be an allergen, as it’s often made from barley. One should also watch out for oats. While they’re naturally gluten-free, oats are often grown near wheat, barley, or rye, and, as a result, they can become contaminated by them. Make sure that any oats you consume are guaranteed gluten-free on the food label.

Avoiding tree nuts will have you waving off…

• Almonds
• Brazil nuts
• Cashews
• Coconut
• Curries (They often contain ground almonds)
• Hazelnuts
• Honey (Some nut species are pollinated by bees)
• Macadamia nuts
• Nut butters
• Nut milks
• Pecans
• Pistachios
• Walnuts

Be wary of cold cuts (such as mortadella), energy bars, flavored coffees, marinades, pastries, and sauces (including barbecue) too. All can and often do contain some tree nuts as additives. Certain ethnic foods, such as Chinese, Indian, and Thai, also contain nuts.

If you have an intolerance to peanuts, you should steer clear of the following:

• Beer nuts
• Chili
• Cold-pressed peanut oil (Although highly-refined peanut oil may be OK; ask your doctor)
• Egg rolls
• Enchilada sauce
• Fried foods (Many are cooked in peanut oil)
• Ice cream
• Glazes
• Lupin/Lupine (A flour substitute in gluten-free foods, it’s a legume, like peanuts are, and may provoke a reaction similar to a peanut allergy)
• Marinades
• Mole
• Nut butters (Even if you’re not allergic to tree nuts, nut butters can be exposed to peanuts in processing and pick up their allergens)
• Pancakes
• Pesto

What Nutrition Am I Missing By Cutting Out Gluten and Nuts?

Avoiding gluten and nuts if you’re allergic to them will greatly reduce the risk that you’ll have a bad reaction when you eat something. On the downside, you will increase the likelihood that you don’t get enough of certain vitamins and minerals, if you’re not careful to eat other foods that supply them.

“Nutrients of concern in a gluten-free diet are vitamins D, B12, and folate,” says Shannon Ehrhardt, RD, CSSD, an EXOS Performance Dietitian, “as well as iron, magnesium, calcium, and zinc.” But you can cover these needs by consistently eating some of the following.

For vitamin D: egg yolks, mushrooms, and salmon

For vitamin B12: beef, clams, eggs, and tuna

For folate: broccoli, Brussels sprouts, chickpeas, and leafy greens

Nut-free diets are often lacking in vitamin E, niacin, magnesium, manganese, and chromium, says Ehrhardt. To make sure you stay topped off on them, eat foods from the lists below.

For vitamin E: avocado, broccoli, butternut squash, kiwi, olive oil, and spinach

For niacin: beef, brown rice, salmon, and tuna

For magnesium: avocado, banana, dark chocolate, legumes (chickpeas, lentils, soy beans, other beans), okra, oysters, salmon, spinach, and tofu

For manganese: black pepper, clams, coffee, legumes, mussels, oysters, rice, and tea

For chromium: fruits, meats, and vegetables

5 High-Protein, Low-Carb Snack Options

Liv Langdon (livoutloud.com), a holistic wellness coach, recipe developer, and photographer, whipped up the following five recipes for amazing snacks that are not only gluten- and nut-free but also high in protein and low in carbs—perfect for active people who want to be lean and strong. They also include many of the foods that Ehrhardt encourages you to include to make sure you get the nutrition that might otherwise go missing with the loss of gluten and nuts.

None of these snacks takes long to prepare. If you’re concerned about having reactions to other foods, such as dairy, or you’re interested in vegan options, Langdon included substitutions to make those adjustments as well.

1. Tuna Salad On Crackers

Prep time: 15 minutes

Serving size: 5 crackers

Yields: 4 servings 

INGREDIENTS

2 cans tuna, chunk light, in water

1 lemon, cut in 2 halves

3 tbsp. avocado oil mayo*

3 tbsp. full-fat Skyr yogurt**

2 tbsp. flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped 

2 tbsp. red onion, finely minced 

⅛ tsp. coriander 

⅛ tsp. garlic powder 

⅛ tsp. white pepper 

⅛ tsp. sea salt

½ avocado, diced

10 brown rice crackers***

10 flax crackers***

*We used Primal Kitchen’s avocado-oil based mayonnaise.

**We used Siggi’s 4% plain Skyr yogurt. If you have a dairy allergy, replace this with the avocado-oil based mayonnaise.

***We used Trader Joe’s gluten-free brown rice crackers.

***We used Flacker’s rosemary flax seed crackers. 

INSTRUCTIONS

Step 1. Drain and rinse the tuna. Transfer to a mixing bowl, and break up any large chunks with a fork. Squeeze ½ lemon on top.

Step 2. Add the mayo, yogurt, parsley, onion, and spices. Mix until well combined and set aside.

Step 3. In a separate mixing bowl, add the diced avocado and squeeze the remaining lemon half over it. Season with salt and pepper, and mash with a fork.

Step 4. Place crackers on a plate. Spread one teaspoon of mashed avocado onto each cracker, then top with tuna. If traveling, keep the tuna salad, mashed avocado, and crackers in separate containers until you’re ready to prepare.

MACROS PER SERVING 

240 calories | 16g fat | 10g carbs | 4g fiber | 6g net carbs | 18g protein

2. Broccoli + Cheese Turkey Bites

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: 20 minutes

Serving size: 2 bites

Yields: 12 bites

INGREDIENTS

Avocado oil (see instructions)

½ tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

½ cup finely diced onion

1 tbsp. minced garlic 

1 bag frozen broccoli

1 lb. organic ground turkey

1 egg

½ tsp. sea salt  

¼ tsp. smoked paprika 

¼ tsp. ground pepper

2 tbsp. chopped parsley

½ cup shredded parmesan cheese

½ cup shredded cheddar cheese

¼ tsp. lemon zest  

INSTRUCTIONS

Step 1. Preheat the oven to 375-degrees Fahrenheit, and turn on the broiler. Spray or wipe a muffin tin with avocado oil to prevent sticking.

Step 2. Place a sauté pan on medium-low heat, and add the olive oil. When hot, add diced onion and minced garlic. Cook until the veggies are softened—about three minutes—then set aside to cool.

Step 3. Steam 2 cups of frozen broccoli. You can use fresh broccoli or frozen steam bags for ease. Drain, let cool, and chop finely.

Step 4. In a large mixing bowl, add the ground turkey, egg, spices, onion-garlic mix, chopped broccoli, parsley, shredded cheese, and lemon zest. Mix until thoroughly combined.

Step 5. Fill about ⅔ of each muffin tin with the turkey mixture. Top with a little more shredded cheese.

Step 6. Bake for 20 minutes, then broil for an additional 3 to 5 minutes, or until the cheese is golden brown. Enjoy warm! These bites are easy to travel with; simply store in a Ziploc baggie or Tupperware container.

MACROS PER SERVING 

270 calories | 16g fat | 2g carbs | 1g fiber | 1g net carbs | 28g protein

3. Pumpkin Spice Protein Shake

Prep time: 5 minutes

Yields: 1 shake

INGREDIENTS

1 scoop Onnit Grass-Fed Whey Isolate Protein, vanilla flavor*

½ cup canned pumpkin puree

½ cup unsweetened vanilla flax milk 

¼ cup Skyr full-fat plain yogurt

¼ tsp. pumpkin pie spice

¼ tsp. ground cinnamon

½ tsp. vanilla extract

½ tbsp. flax meal

1 tsp. pure maple syrup**

1 ½ cups ice

Pinch sea salt

Pumpkin seeds (optional)

*To make the recipe vegan, opt for Onnit Plant-Based Protein powder, vanilla flavor, and remove the yogurt. 

**Flavored or processed maple syrups may not be gluten-free, so get one that’s as pure as possible.

INSTRUCTIONS

Step 1. Add all ingredients to a high-powered blender. Pulse until smooth. Garnish with pumpkin seeds and additional cinnamon if desired, or take it to go!

MACROS PER SERVING 

280 calories | 7g fat | 22g carbs | 5g fiber | 17g net carbs | 33g protein

4. Sunflower Energy Bites

Prep time: 10 minutes 

Fridge time: 15 minutes

Serving size: 2 bites

Yields: 16 bites 

INGREDIENTS

½ cup sunflower seed butter* 

1 scoop Onnit Grass-Fed Whey Isolate Protein, vanilla flavor** 

¼ cup flax meal 

⅓ cup unsweetened dried cranberries

⅓ cup mini dark chocolate chips***

½ tsp. ground cinnamon 

2 tbsp. pumpkin seeds 

3 tbsp. hemp seeds 

2 tbsp. chia seeds 

¼ tsp sea salt 

*Make sure your sunflowers are nut-free. Some sunflowers are processed with equipment that is also used for peanuts, so there is risk of cross contamination.

**To make the recipe vegan, opt for a vegan protein powder, such as Onnit Plant-Based Protein

***We used Enjoy Life mini dark chocolate chips, which are dairy-free, nut-free, and soy-free.

INSTRUCTIONS

Step 1. Line a tray with parchment paper and set aside. Add all ingredients to a medium mixing bowl, and mix with a spoon until thoroughly combined. 

Step 2. Scoop out a spoonful of the mixture and, using your hands, roll into a bite-sized ball. That’s one bite.

Step 3. Place bites on the parchment-lined tray and refrigerate until firm, about 15 minutes. Store in the fridge in an airtight container for up to one week.

MACROS PER SERVING 

340 calories | 24g fat | 19g carbs | 5g fiber | 14g net carbs | 14g protein

5. Chia + Yogurt Parfait

Prep time: 10 minutes 

Fridge time: 30 minutes 

Serving size: 1 parfait

Yields: 2 parfaits

INGREDIENTS

For the chia pudding:

¼ cup chia seeds

1 cup unsweetened rice milk

2 tbsp. organic half + half 

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Sea salt, to taste 

For the yogurt:

1 ⅓ cups full-fat Skyr yogurt

10 drops liquid Stevia, or sweetener of choice (optional)

For the toppings:

2 tbsp. pomegranate seeds

1 kiwi, sliced

1 tbsp. hemp hearts

INSTRUCTIONS

Step 1. Add all ingredients for the chia pudding to an airtight container. Mix until combined. Make sure there aren’t any clumps of chia stuck on the bottom of the jar. Don’t worry about any excess liquid; the chia will soak it up. Store in the fridge for 30 minutes, or until a thick pudding consistency is formed.

Step 2. If desired, mix the yogurt with your sweetener of choice.

Step 3. Layer ½ of the chia pudding on the bottom of a serving glass. Then layer ⅔ cup of yogurt over the pudding. Top with pomegranate seeds, kiwi slices, and hemp hearts for added texture. Repeat with the remaining half of the ingredients. You can prepare this in advance in enclosed mason jars for a quick snack on the go! 

MACROS PER SERVING 

360 calories | 19g fat | 27g carbs | 10g fiber | 17g net carbs | 24g protein

For more recipes from Langdon, follow her on Instagram—@livlangdon

The post 5 Different Gluten-Free & Nut-Free Snacks That Taste Great appeared first on Onnit Academy.

The problem is that they don’t get their energy from the right foods. When you follow a carbohydrate-based diet, your blood sugar rises and falls sharply with every meal. When it goes down, so does your energy—this is the crash you feel shortly after lunchtime that makes you want to fall asleep at work in the afternoon.

By reducing the amount of carbs you eat and replacing them with healthy sources of fat, you can stabilize blood sugar and enjoy steady energy and greater mental focus all day. These are two characteristics of a ketogenic diet, the ultimate version of a low-carb approach to nutrition that’s also a great strategy for losing weight, preventing or fighting serious illness, and promoting a myriad of other health benefits.

Let this guide answer all your questions about how to “go keto,” from the original strict diet that started the low-carb craze to the modern, more flexible adaptations that may better serve athletes and people looking to adopt healthier eating habits.

What Is A Ketogenic Diet?

Like the Atkins Diet, a ketogenic diet is very low in carbs, however, the difference is that—in a ketogenic diet—the majority of calories come from fat and protein intake is lower. Here’s how it works: Most people take in the bulk of their calories from carbs, so when you restrict carb intake and increase your fats, you send the body the message that it must switch fuel sources. The liver begins to convert fat—both the fat you eat and the body fat you store—into molecules called ketones. When the number of ketones rises to a certain level in your blood stream, you are officially in a state of “ketosis.” At this point, your body uses fat as its primary energy source.

The medically-defined ketogenic diet has 75% of daily calorie intake come from fat, 20% from protein, and 5% from carbs. However, most of the benefits of ketosis can be achieved with additional, moderate amounts of carbohydrate, taken in post-exercise. The medical model of five percent carbohydrate is unnecessarily restrictive—especially if you exercise.

A modified version where 40–60% of your calories come from fat, 20–40% come from protein, and the remaining 20% from carbs typically works great for most people. (See “I Work Out. Is A Ketogenic Diet Right For Me?”) We call this approach—which appears to be more practical and sustainable for most—Mod Keto, and use that term to refer to those numbers throughout this article. While it may not technically put you into ketosis, you’ll keep insulin low enough to promote fat loss (see below) and mental focus while still having enough energy for hard workouts. Maybe best of all, you’ll enjoy the freedom to eat a wider breadth of food than you could on a classic ketogenic diet.

Where Does The Ketogenic Diet Come From?

People have inadvertently followed ketogenic diets for as long as they’ve walked the earth. Before the advent of agriculture, when humans had to hunt and gather their food, it was common to fast for long periods and then take in mostly fat and protein foods, with only limited carbohydrates coming from berries and vegetables. Avoiding food—particularly carbs—for long periods makes your body think that food is scarce, and it responds by making several adjustments to become more efficient with your energy. You don’t have to fast to make a ketogenic diet effective, but the two are often done in combination for the best results.

Suprisingly, Research has found that ketogenic diets have been formally prescribed to treat epilepsy since before 500 B.C. In the 1920s, they were adopted by Johns Hopkins Medical Center as a means of treating epileptic children, and have been used there ever since. In recent years, ketogenic diets have been investigated for their potential in treating several diseases (see “What Are The Health Benefits of a Ketogenic Diet?”)

How Will a Ketogenic Diet Help Me Lose Weight?

Since you begin to burn more fat for fuel, ketogenic diets make losing pure body fat much easier.

There’s a hormonal component at play too. When you eat carbs, your blood sugar (glucose) rises sharply. It rises when you eat anything, but carbs convert most quickly to glucose. The pancreas releases insulin to take excess sugar out of the bloodstream, storing most of it as fat. Because ketogenic diets minimize carb intake, insulin levels are kept low, limiting the calories that can be stored in your fat cells.

This is often cited as a reason why ketogenic diets tend to outperform low-fat diets in clinical trials. A study in the journal Lipids found that ketogenic dieters lost almost twice as much weight as a group following a low-fat diet over 12 weeks, even though calorie intake in both groups was the same. Incredibly, ketogenic diets often promote weight loss even when calories aren’t controlled. A trial published in the New England Journal of Medicine allowed a keto group to consume as many protein and fat-rich foods as they wanted, while the low-fat dieters had to restrict their calories. After six months, the low-carb eaters enjoyed significantly greater weight loss, and still slightly more after a whole year.

If this makes you question the old adage that “a calorie is a calorie,” and that it’s the overall number of calories you eat that determines whether you gain or lose weight, you’re right to be skeptical. A study from Nutrition & Metabolism had subjects follow either a ketogenic diet or a low-fat diet and then switch diets for the same amount of time (50 days for the men in the study; 30 days for the women). In each case, the participants tried to cut 500 calories from what they had been eating, but in the keto approach, the men ended up eating significantly more. Nevertheless, cutting carbs worked better for losing fat for both men and women across the board. More impressive still is the fact that the men lost three times as much fat directly from around their waists as they did dieting on low fat.

Results are one thing, but no diet will work long-term if it makes you miserable to follow it. You’ll quit, return to your old ways of eating, and regain the weight. But this is where a ketogenic or Mod Keto approach really shines. Fats and proteins are highly satiating; eating them keeps you feeling fuller, so you’re less likely to feel like you’re “starving”—even when your calories are low—and you break your diet to pig out. A study in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association on overweight women found that not only did they lose more weight on keto than they did with a higher-carb, lower-fat plan, they reported feeling less hungry throughout the diet.

As we recently reported in our rebuttal to the Netflix documentary What The Health, two of the earliest studies that compared the effects of carb- and fat-based diets found strikingly different outcomes in how the subjects felt and behaved. Although calories were equal for both groups, the high-carb gang complained of being lethargic and depressed, while the high-fat eaters remained energetic and satiated from their meals.

What Are The Health Benefits of a Ketogenic Diet?

Apart from all the pros that come with dropping body fat, a ketogenic diet can improve several other aspects of health and even treat serious disease. A ketogenic diet can…

1. Increase focus

As we alluded to in the beginning, a carb-rich diet puts your blood sugar on a roller coaster ride all day. When it’s down, so is your ability think clearly and focus, colloquially known as “brain fog.” There hasn’t been much research on the ketogenic diet’s effect on brain fog in healthy people, but the first thing most notice after they cut carbs (even in the first day) is clearer thinking and a better attention span (that is, until they come down with the “keto flu”—see below—which is very temporary).

Ultimately, once you’re in ketosis, the brain can get 70% of its energy from ketones, so pay no attention to rumors you’ve heard that the brain “runs on carbs” and your IQ will drop when you cut them out. In addition, your body is adept at generating any additional glucose necessary through a process called gluconeogenesis.  Some find that they’re so alert on low carbs that they don’t need coffee in the morning.

2. Benefits for Epileptics

Since ketogenic diets promote better thinking, it shouldn’t be surprising to find that they have other positive effects on the brain too. Epilepsy is a brain disease that causes seizures and loss of consciousness. Research has shown that a ketogenic diet can help reduce symptoms in about half of epileptic patients. Furthermore, a study in The Lancet found that children who followed a ketogenic diet for three months—and previously hadn’t responded to medication—saw their seizures decrease by an average of 75%.

3. Benefits to Cancer Therapy

Cancers thrive under high-glucose conditions where there is a lot of sugar in the bloodstream. It stands to reason then that reducing glucose levels would help to combat cancer cells. This is one theory behind why ketogenic diets are effective for treating tumors, particularly in the brain and digestive tract. A 2015 article in the International Journal of Biochemistry and Cell Biology sums up the findings of multiple studies on ketogenic diets and cancer with the following: “there is increasing evidence that the ketogenic diet may also be beneficial as an adjuvant cancer therapy by potentiating the antitumor effect of chemotherapy and radiation treatment.”

4. Benefits for Cardiovascular Health

Based on mainstream media fear mongering, you might think that a diet high in meat and animal products could damage your heart, but research on ketogenic diets shows the opposite. A review of studies that pitted low-carb and low-fat diets against each other for better heart health found that the low-carb approach was more effective for reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease after six months and at least as effective (if not more) after 12 months. A 2012 meta-analysis in Obesity Reviews—23 studies examined; data collected from more than 1,100 subjects—confirmed the favorable effects of keto dieting on major cardiovascular risk factors.

5. Benefits for Skin Health

Remember when your mom would tell you that your zits were caused by all the junk food you ate? She may not have been crazy after all. A 2012 review in Skin Pharmacology and Physiology concluded that a ketogenic diet used as a short-term intervention (30–60 days) can support hormone levels that affect acne.

6. Eliminate Food Allergens From Diet

Many people have allergies or intolerances to the gluten in wheat, as well as beans and sugary foods, without even realizing it. They assume that digestive problems and brain fog are a normal part of life, but they don’t have to be. As these foods aren’t allowed on a ketogenic diet, you may notice near-instant relief upon eliminating them. See “What Can’t I Eat On A Ketogenic Diet” for a full list of banned foods.

What Can I Eat On A Ketogenic Diet?

In short, lots of fat and protein. Many times, when ketogenic diets are prescribed, dieters aren’t asked to restrict their intake of either nutrient in any way—that includes letting people eat as many saturated fats as they like. Although there are exceptions, many people find that relying on fat and protein keeps them satisfied to the point where they don’t feel the need to eat a lot of food. They don’t overeat, so they don’t have to keep close watch of their calories.

One of the great pleasures that a ketogenic diet offers is the liberal consumption of classic “guy foods.” You’re free to eat burgers (as long as they’re without a bun), cheese, and even bacon—provided that you’re sourcing them from high-quality, organic, suppliers. Here’s a list of the main food sources that get the keto stamp of approval.

Meat

Classic ketogenic diets don’t make any distinction about the quality and sourcing of your meats. Most diet researchers who are looking to help people lose weight quickly in a clinical setting don’t care if they eat grass-fed organic beef versus ground chuck that comes from a feedlot—but we do. There are proven nutritional benefits to consuming naturally sourced vs. conventional meats, especially in the long term. Do your best to eat organic, pasture-raised meats: red meat, chicken and turkey, and game meats. The Mod Keto diet we like uses these whenever possible.

Whole eggs

Preferably from pasture-raised hens and high in omega-3 fats (for the same reasons as organic meat).

Fish

Always wild caught if possible and the fattier the better. Salmon, trout, mackerel, and sardines are popular choices, whereas the larger predatory fish like tuna and swordfish are typically high in toxic metals like mercury and should be avoided most of the time.

Dairy

Organic and from grass-fed cows is crucial here. Butter, cream, unprocessed cheese (cheddar, not Velveeta). Note: milk is NOT included due to its carb content.

Avocados

Bring on the guacamole!

Fibrous vegetables

Greens, peppers, onions, garlic, cauliflower, and so on. Although technically a fruit, and fruit intake should be limited (see “What Can’t I Eat on a Ketogenic Diet” below), tomatoes are allowed, as they’re low in carbs.

Unrefined oils

Coconut, avocado, and extra-virgin olive oil, primarily.

Nuts and seeds

Go easy on these. While they’re great sources of fat, nuts and seeds contain small amounts of carbohydrate that can easily add up to something significant because they’re fairly easy to overeat (how many times have you absent-mindedly killed a jar of almond butter or a bag of pistachios?). If you’re following Mod Keto, they’re OK, but watch your portions. Macadamia nuts, pecans, and Brazil nuts are some of the safest choices.

Some condiments

Salt, pepper, salsa, mustard, horseradish, and various herbs and spices.

What Can’t I Eat on a Ketogenic Diet?

Basically, anything high in carbs—no matter how nutritious it is otherwise—should be minimized or banned from your kitchen.

Sugar

This encompasses soda, fruit juice, smoothies, pastries, candy, and desserts, as well as some condiments like ketchup and barbecue sauce.

Alcohol

No smart diet allows you to booze, but in addition to the problematic effects of alcohol by itself, most drinks contain sugar. However, the occasional small serving of dry red wine may not kick you out of ketosis or otherwise spoil your fat-burning efforts.

Processed foods

Crackers, chips, or any snacks labeled as “low-fat,” no matter what other nutritional benefits they may claim. Also included here: foods that contain sugar alcohols (such as sorbitol or xylitol). These are common in “sugar-free” foods and may negatively affect ketone levels.

Fruit

The sugar content is too great. However, small amounts of berries are low in sugar, and can be part of a ketogenic diet.

Grains

Oats, corn, rice, pasta, bread, and other wheat-based products. See “Are There Any Other Exceptions To The Rules?” below.

Beans

Peas, lentils, kidney beans, garbanzos, etc. Again, see our section on exceptions.

Processed fats and oils

Mayonnaise, soybean oil, canola oil, and other vegetable oils.

Are Starchy Vegetables Keto?

On a strict keto diet plan, potatoes, sweet potatoes, beets, carrots, parsnips, and other root vegetables and tubers are blackballed. However, if you’re doing a ketogenic diet and working out, or the Mod Keto diet we like, you may want some extra carbs to support your workouts, and these foods should be your main source. See “I Work Out. Can I Do A Ketogenic Diet?”

Are There Any Other Exceptions To The Rules?

On Mod Keto, you can get away with eating moderate amounts of other carb-based foods such as fermented bread (sourdough), sprouted grains, and chickpeas. This version allows for a broader selection of foods because it recognizes the nutritional benefits of some carb foods regardless of their lack of compliance with a strict keto diet. Sourdough and sprouted grains, for example, contain numerous vitamins and minerals in a highly digestible form, and chickpeas are high in fiber, slowing down your body’s digestion of their carbohydrates and preventing the blood sugar spikes that raise insulin. When these foods are eaten late in the day or after workouts, the small hazards they pose to the effectiveness of ketogenic dieting are greatly offset and don’t outweigh the benefits. See “I Work Out. Can I Do A Ketogenic Diet?”

What Does A Day of Keto Meals Look Like?

Below is a sample day of eating for someone who’s just easing into a ketogenic diet.

Breakfast

Omelet made with (organic) eggs, tomato, and mixed peppers, cooked in coconut oil. Sliced avocado.

Lunch

Grilled (wild caught) salmon, salad dressed with olive oil and vinegar

Snack

Handful of cheese (from grass-fed, organic dairy), handful of almonds

Dinner

(Grass-fed) burger topped with salsa and (organic) bacon, asparagus spears dressed with (organic, grass-fed) butter.

As mentioned earlier, protein can raise insulin just as carbs can. The body actually makes carbs from protein in a process called gluconeogenesis, so it’s important that any high-protein food you eat be paired with fat and fiber sources to slow its digestion and keep insulin in check. Never eat egg whites—go with whole eggs and pair them with avocado. White fish are lean, so cook them in butter or oil, and eat them with vegetables.

Once you’ve gotten the hang of it, to get better results, consider cutting the number of meals you eat back and combining the diet with long fasts (called intermittent fasting). For example, start by skipping breakfast. Remember that our Paleolithic ancestors discovered ketosis out of necessity—they had to hunt and forage for food, and often went long stretches without any. Scientists believe that many of the benefits of going keto come from its mimicking the early stages of starvation. Your body is in fight-or-flight mode, which helps account for the alertness you experience. To take full advantage of the diet, you can gradually scale back to having one meal per day at night.

This isn’t as severe as it sounds. Without eating, your mind will be sharp and you’ll burn fat at a greater rate. To control hunger, you can drink water and coffee, blended with butter or MCT Oil, as needed (see “What Supplements Can I Take on a Ketogenic Diet?” below). At night, you can eat as much as you want. This strategy works well for people looking to lose weight (especially the very overweight) and improve general health.

Note, however, that if you’re an athlete, you’ll probably need to take in more food to support your activity and muscle mass. See “I Work Out. Is A Ketogenic Diet Right For Me?”

What Is The “Keto Flu?”

As your body switches over from fueling itself with carbohydrate to fat, there is going to be a little bit of a lag. This is what people call the Keto Flu, since at some point during the first two weeks of a ketogenic diet people can feel lethargic, moody, have difficulty sleeping, and even develop bad breath. Stick with it. All of this is normal and will pass as your body adjusts to ketosis. The bad breath is the result of a specific kind of ketone that exits the body through breath; you can mask it with a chlorophyll– or sugar-free mint.

It takes anywhere from three to six months to become fully adapted to using ketones, but the worst should be behind you in a matter of days, and you’ll be feeling better than ever.

Is the Ketogenic Diet Safe?

We listed keto’s numerous health benefits above, but a diet that’s heavy on meat and all but bans fruit and whole grains flies in the face of conventional nutrition dogma, leaving many to wonder if going keto might be dangerous long-term.

For most reasonably healthy adults, there’s no evidence to suggest that it is. Interestingly, our colleagues at Healthline.com unearthed a particularly powerful piece of evidence from the US Institute of Medicine’s Food and Nutrition Board. Their 2005 report clearly states that, “The lower limit of dietary carbohydrates compatible with life apparently is zero, provided that adequate amounts of protein and fat are consumed.” While they don’t recommend consuming no carbs at all, and neither do we, it goes to show that extremely low doses are not only safe but natural as well.

How Do I Know If I’m In Ketosis?

The only way to be sure is by testing your blood glucose and ketone levels with a monitor (we like the Precision Xtra, available on amazon.com for $40). But not only is this invasive (you have to prick your finger), it can get expensive, as the monitor requires test strips too which can be five dollars each. Ketosis can also be measured through devices that analyze breath and urine, but these aren’t as accurate.

A low-tech, low-cost way to check that you’re on the right track is look for the telltale signs: keto flu and bad breath in the early stages, and then reduced hunger and fast weight loss. If you’re watching your carbs and staying true to the diet, it’s just a matter of time before you settle into ketosis—or close enough to it (if you’re following the Mod Keto protocol) to see and feel results.

I Work Out. Is a Ketogenic Diet Right For Me?

Sports nutrition science has long preached that carbohydrates are the body’s best and preferred fuel source during exercise, but research is emerging to suggest that they don’t have to be. A study published in Nutrition Metabolism looked at overweight women who weight trained on a ketogenic diet, finding that they lost body fat without significant loss of lean body mass.

Another trial from the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition found that a month of keto dieting didn’t negatively affect performance in gymnasts while decreasing their body fat levels. Furthermore, the researchers determined that muscle was spared specifically due to ketosis. In other words, despite a low-calorie intake, the athletes didn’t lose significant amounts of muscle because their bodies used ketones for fuel—not protein from their muscle tissue.

Other studies have shown that ketogenic diets don’t hurt strength or endurance (once the athlete is fully adapted to them), but if you’re a dedicated gym goer or highly active person, we don’t see a need to take the textbook keto approach. A more moderate, low-carb plan (such as Mod Keto) will work fine. According to Onnit’s Director of Total Human Optimization, Kyle Kingsbury, a former pro athlete who has experimented with low-carb diets for years, getting 40–60% of your calories from fat, 20–40% from protein, and 20% from carbs is a good balance that will give you the weight loss and focus benefits of ketosis without the potential for low energy or slow recovery from exercise.

If you’re a more passive exerciser and not doing aggressive workouts like high-intensity interval training (HIIT), which is characterized by short bursts of all-out work efforts interspersed with short rest periods, you won’t need as many carbs and can therefore increase your fats even more. In that case, a diet closer to 65% fat, 25% protein, and 10% carbs may be more appropriate.

Dominic D’Agostino, one of the world’s foremost researchers of ketogenic diets—and an amateur bodybuilder—has said that he personally takes in 65%–70% of his calories from fat and 20–30% from protein.

Try timing the carbs you do take in strategically. Carbing up at night after you’ve trained will make your liver and muscles soak up the carbs they need to recover from the workout and fuel your next one. Starchy, slow-releasing carbs like potatoes and other tubers would be perfect. Do NOT eat carbs before you train, as they will replace fat as your fuel source for the workout.

How Do I Set Up A Diet?

The beauty of a low-carb/ketogenic diet is its simplicity. For most people, eating more fat in place of carbs will prevent overeating and lower insulin levels so you lose weight quickly and without having to track calories or macros. Start with that.

However, if you’re an athlete or regular exerciser, or you find you’ve hit a plateau with your diet, you need to start reading labels and recording what you eat. Above, we gave you percentages of total calories to follow, which begs the question, “how many calories should I be eating?” The answer depends on your goals.

If you want to lose weight, multiply your current body weight by 10–12. If you’re very overweight, choose the body weight you’d like to have and times that by 10–12. This isn’t an exact science; you just need a starting point. You can adjust your calories from there as things progress.

If your goal is to maintain your weight but change your body composition (a little more muscle, a little less fat), multiply your body weight by 13–15.

For example, a highly active 180-pound man who wants to lose weight doing Mod Keto would set his calories at 2,200 (180 x 12 = 2160). Fat will make up 60% of his diet, which is 1,320 calories (0.60 x 2200). Since there are nine calories per gram of fat, he’ll eat about 150 grams of fat daily.

Twenty percent of 2,200 is 440 calories, or 110 grams each of protein and carbohydrate (as protein and carbs both contain four calories per gram).

So, in short, this 180-pounder should aim for 2,200 calories consisting of 150 grams fat, 110 grams protein, and 110 grams carbs to diet down.

Whether you work out or not, do your best to consume the bulk of your carbs in the evening with dinner. Not only will this keep your mind sharp during the day when you most need it to be, it will further help your body adapt to using fat for fuel.

What Supplements Can I Take on a Ketogenic Diet?

Going keto is much easier than it used to be. Products now exist that can help you reach ketosis sooner and bring you back into it after a cheat meal here and there. Exogenous ketones—including beta-hydroxybutarate—are ketones made in a lab that function just like the ones your body makes from fat. They’re particularly beneficial in combating the keto flu, helping you think more clearly while your body makes the adjustment.

MCT oil is another go-to for ketogenic dieters. A study in the journal Diabetes found that medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs)—a type of saturated fat—improve cognitive function when blood sugar is low, encouraging the body to generate more ketones for the brain to run on. And, as we reported in our defense of coconut oil last summer, MCT’s are burned quickly for energy. A Journal of Nutrition study comparing subjects who consumed MCT’s or the same amount of long-chain fats lost significantly greater body fat after 12 weeks. Meanwhile, research from 2015 in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition revealed that subjects who consumed supplemental MCT’s ate less at meals afterward than those who were given processed corn oil. Their glucose raised less after a meal and their leptin, a hormone that promotes satiety, was higher.

Remember that proteins can raise insulin levels just as carbs do, potentially pushing you out of ketosis or preventing you from reaching it. The ever-popular whey protein is one such offender. In its place, you can supplement with an essential amino acid product. Take a look at products like NatureAminos, which you can pick up HERE. Amino acids do act on insulin, but not to the same extent as whey. You’ll get the muscle-building components of protein in an even more digestible form without threatening your ketogenic diet.

The post The Ketogenic Diet For Weight Loss, Energy, and Better Health appeared first on Onnit Academy.

In fact, practicing I.F forces you to eat in direct opposition to those assumptions, and that—along with the results—is what’s generating all the buzz. Before we get into the why and the how, let’s first discuss the basics of the what.

“Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Eat as soon as you wake up to break the fast and set yourself up for healthy eating patterns.“
“Don’t skip meals, your body will think it’s starving and your metabolism will suffer.”
“To keep your metabolism revving, you should eat a mini meal every three hours.”

Most of us have spent the last 20 to 30 years believing these statements to be true. But what if I told you all of these common suppositions might be wrong? Or at least, might not be entirely right? The modern approach to meal consumption actually stands in stark contrast to more historical standards. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but the reality is, we just don’t know for sure.

While modern standards say we should eat three meals a day with snacks between meals, historically, this hasn’t been the norm. Light, ongoing grazing and a single, larger meal is actually more representative of the makeup of historical meal timing. So why, then, are we so convinced that skipping meals or failing to eat breakfast is “bad” for health and metabolism?

The easy answer is, “Well, research says so,” but that’s only sort of true. The field of nutritional research is still relatively new, and most studies leading to the commonly held beliefs that you shouldn’t skip meals or deny yourself breakfast don’t account for every contributing variable.

For instance, a large-scale epidemiological study that draws the correlation between skipping breakfast and weight gain may not consider factors such as high-stress jobs or the consumption of highly processed foods as co-factors to skipping breakfast.

Plus, common sense flies in the face of claims that skipping meals always negatively impacts metabolism. Just look around the leanest of individuals are typically calorie restrictive; They control how much they eat, sometimes skipping meals to do so.

As a society, we could certainly benefit from a little more self-control in the kitchen, and if diets are hard to maintain, maybe a well-employed fasting plan could kill two birds with one stone; providing calorie restriction without the overwhelming maintenance of a long-term diet.

That’s why the recent and growing research on the impact and benefits of intermittent fasting is so interesting. And for some people, it could be a real game changer.

What is Intermittent Fasting?

The most accurate definition is the simplest one: I.F. is merely alternating intervals of not eating (fasting) with times when you are allowed to eat. Or, to use I.F. parlance, you alternate a fasting period with a feeding window. How long each will be tends to vary heavily, depending on which intermittent fasting protocol you select—and there are several.

Each method of intermittent fasting will be discussed later in the article, but for now, it’s enough to mention that the differences come from expanding the fasting window. The fasting period on specific plans can range from 16 hours all the way up to 36 hours (with several stops in between), and each of those specific plans will have benefits.

It’s also important to note that every one of us does some form of fasting, whether you realize it or not. The least technical-while-still-being-accurate definition of fasting is simply “not eating,” so anytime you’re not eating, you’re fasting. Most of us aren’t on a structured timetable of meals where the window of fasting is constant, so rather than fasting intermittently, we’re fasting haphazardly—and there’s no benefit there.

The exception for most people is sleep. When you’re sleeping, you’re fasting; therefore most of us have a fairly rigid fasting period of 6 to 8 hours per night, until we eat in the morning. It is for this reason, by the way, that our morning meal is called “breakfast,” as you are literally breaking your overnight fast.

I want to be very clear that intermittent fasting (I.F.) isn’t even remotely the same thing as anorexia. Specifically, intermittent fasting is, by nature, intermittent. In other words, it’s done for brief, controlled periods of time. Some of the best examples of intermittent fasting are those associated with religious practices.

For instance, the 4-week period of Ramadan during which practicing Muslims don’t eat or drink from sunrise to sunset. They’re welcome to eat during the night, and some even eat to excess, but during the day, an intermittent fast is in effect. Anorexia, by contrast, is sustained and extreme caloric restriction with the sole intent of fast and extreme fat loss.

The Most Important Meal of the Day? Should You Skip Breakfast For Faster Fat Loss?

When I was a kid, my parents would rush me to eat breakfast before going off to school. My parents believed that eating breakfast was vital and the only way to ensure I had enough energy to be productive at school. Were my parents the only ones who valued breakfast? Of course not!

When you wake, your body is in a fasted state. Assuming that your goal is to reduce fat, eating breakfast early morning theoretically stops fat loss or “breaks your fast”. In fact, breakfast is such an important part of everyone’s life that we make it a priority to eat first thing in the morning. We subconsciously hurry to eat breakfast before going to work, school, exercise at the gym or go off into the day.

Why?

Well, somewhere down the road we were taught to believe that breakfast is the “most important meal of day” and skipping it would crash your metabolism, drop your blood sugar to unhealthy levels, and that your body would cannibalize itself, go into starvation mode, and affect your thyroid health. YIKES!

Is this true? Will skipping breakfast slow you down, decrease energy, and work production?

Absolutely not!

The Truth About Eating Breakfast

Breakfast is sort of a hot topic in the Intermittent Fasting world, and in fact seems to be the first point of contention for people looking in on intermittent fasting from the outside. Don’t we need breakfast? Intermittent Fasting proponents tend to say no…which flies in the face of much of the dietary advice coming from every authority from Registered Dietitians to MDs. I.F. peeps don’t give a shit, though, because these dudes hate breakfast.

Here’s why: for years, we’ve been told that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. In fact, many people are often scolded by their physicians for skipping breakfast—particularly people who are embarking on a plan to lose weight.

There is some credence here, by the way: a study conducted in 2008 showed that participants who ate a calorically dense breakfast lost more weight than those who didn’t. The espoused theory for the results was that the higher caloric intake early in the day led people to snack less often and lowered caloric intake overall.

The value of that study has been questioned for many reasons, not the least of which is that despite the fact that roughly 90% of Americans eat breakfast, close to 50% of Americans are overweight. If eating breakfast is the first step to weight loss, then clearly something else is going wrong.

More evidence seems to support the breakfast idea, though. There are some epidemiological studies that show a connection between skipping breakfast and higher body weight. Of course, proponents of the breakfast theory are quick to suggest that most people are simply eating the wrong breakfast, as quick n easy meals like Danishes and doughnuts, which can lead to weight gain.

However, the crux of the breakfast study is ultimately that a larger breakfast leads to a lower daily caloric intake. That is, the argument for a larger breakfast ultimately boils down to energy balance; if that study is reliant on the position that weight loss comes down to calories-in versus calories-out, then the make up of the food shouldn’t matter. If we’ve learned anything from Mark Haub’s Twinkie Diet, it’s that you can eat garbage and lose weight. Clearly, something else is going on.

The only real argument that breakfast crowds have is insulin sensitivity. On a very basic note, the more sensitive your body is to insulin, the more likely you are to lose fat and gain muscle. Increasing insulin sensitivity almost always leads to more efficient dieting.

Getting back to it, supporters of eating breakfast declare that as insulin sensitivity is higher in the morning, eating a carbohydrate rich breakfast is going to have the greatest balance of taking in a large amount of energy without the danger of weight gain.

This brings us back to I.F.. You see, insulin sensitivity isn’t higher in the morning; it’s higher after the 8 to 10 hour fasting periods you experience if you sleep. Or more specifically, insulin sensitivity is higher when glycogen levels are depleted; liver glycogen will be somewhat depleted from your sleeping fast.

Intermittent fasting takes that a step further. It seems that extending the fasting period beyond that 8 to 10 hours by skipping breakfast (and therefore further depleting glycogen) will increase insulin sensitivity even further.

Insulin sensitivity is also increased post-exercise due to further glycogen depletion in addition to other mechanisms, I feel it makes to most sense to compound benefits by training in a fasted state, then having a carbohydrate meal or shake, maximizing the already potent effect of your para-workout nutrition.

Ultimately, this all means that there’s nothing special about breakfast and first thing in the morning—the first meal you eat to break your fast will be exposed to the benefits of increased insulin sensitivity.

On the other hand, I’ll take my tongue out of my cheek long enough to say that there’s nothing inherently evil about breakfast either. Even if you practice some form of fasting, you can still eat breakfast. Remember, the more important part is the length of the fast, not the time of the fast. Skipping breakfast just happens to be the easiest way to implement a fast.

A discussion that mentions skipping breakfast—or any meal, really—will invariably lead into a discussion of meal frequency, which leads me to my next point.

Frequency of Intermittent Fasting?

It seems that over the past 15 to 20 years, hundreds of diet books have been printed, and no two were identical. In fact, some of them have been in direct opposition to one another.

Calorie-restrictive plans like Weight Watchers certainly don’t agree with plans like the Atkins diet, the first iteration of which allowed dieters to at all they want, as long as they kept carbs low. Similarly, carb conscious plans generally call for products like yogurt or cottage cheese to be used as portable sources of protein, but many plans to reject dairy products altogether.

Despite the incredibly disparate natures of so many of these diets, the one thing that has been consistently suggested in most books published over the past 20 years is the frequency of meals.

If you’ve read a diet book, seen a nutritionist or hired a personal trainer at any point during that time, you’ve probably been told that in order to lose weight, you need to eat 5-6 small meals per day. (Note: this suggestion is sometimes phrased as “3 meals and 2 snacks.”)

This style of eating, commonly referred to as the frequent feeding model, is popular with everyone from dietitians to bodybuilders, and has been repeated so often for so long that it’s generally taken as fact. Which it isn’t. In fact, the reputed benefits of eating small meals more often have never been scientifically validated.

The first and most commonly cited of these is that eating frequently “stokes the metabolic fire.” Put less colloquially, the theory suggests because eating increases your metabolic rate, then the more often you eat, the more your metabolic rate will be elevated. That’s true, but it doesn’t lead to more fat loss—in fact, it’s been scientifically borne out that there won’t be a difference at all.

When you eat, your metabolic rate increased because of the energy required to break down the food you’ve taken in. This is called the Thermic Effect of Food, or TEF. So, while you’re experiencing energy expenditure due to TEF every time you eat, the net effect is no different regardless of how many times you eat, as long as the total amount of food is the same.

You see, TEF is directly proportional to caloric intake, and if caloric intake is the same at the end of the day, there will be no metabolic difference between eating 5 to 6 meals or 2 to 3. In fact, as long as the total calories are the same, you can eat ten meals or one meal, and you’ll still get the same metabolic effect.

Further, one study has shown that eating more frequently is less beneficial from the perspective of satiety, or feeling “full.” Which means that the more often you eat, the more likely you are to be hungry—leading to higher caloric intake and eventual weight gain.

Intermittent Fasting guru Martin Berkhan has summarized this study, its meaning, and the effects of such things quite well, but suffice it to say that it seems people who eat larger meals less frequently take in fewer calories and are more satisfied doing so.

A smaller number of meals obviously fits well into fasting protocols—if you are condensing the amount of time you’re “allowed” to eat into a small window of 4 to 8 hours, having more than 2 to 3 meals becomes impractical at best and impossible at worst. My clients who practice I.F. eat 3 meals (not counting a post-workout shake, which they consume on days they train with weights).

What Research Says About Intermittent Fasting

For the record, I am not suggesting that going ahead with intermittent fasting and skipping breakfast is the “ONLY WAY” to lose fat because obviously there are other diets and trategies to nutrition that have proven results, but I am simply introducing another perspective. And I would argue that skipping breakfast makes a little more sense metabolically. But wait! I know what you are thinking, is this strategy only beneficial for losing fat? Not at all. In fact there are many additional health benefits.

The research on intermittent fasting is overwhelmingly positive, and not just from a fat loss perspective. A few recent studies have found I.F. could help:

● Reduce risk of coronary artery disease and diabetes, as well as employ significant, positive changes to blood cholesterol in healthy and pre-diabetic populations.
● Improve markers of longevity that could contribute to a longer lifespan.
● Benefit children with severe epilepsy, reducing seizures beyond the reductions seen using a ketogenic diet alone.
● Override the harmful effects of a high fat diet by preventing obesity and liver disease.
● Improve brain health and help stave off Alzheimer’s Disease.
● Protect cells, slow tumor growth and reduce side effects of chemotherapy treatment in cancer patients.
● Give the stomach and pancreas a break from constantly secreting digestive juices (Hydrochloric acid and bicarbonate). Both aid in killing bacteria, mashing food particles, and neutralizing gut pH. The result is a healthier flow of juices and movement of food from point A to B.
● Give the pancreas an opportunity to recharge from secreting digestive enzymes and hormones. This rest aids in optimal enzyme secretion, food break down, and improved blood sugar regulation.
● Aid in “re-sensitizing” cells in utilizing glucose. In other words, cells become more efficient at using glucose (carbs, sugar) and converting it into potential energy.
● Improve hunger control. Most people eat immediately once they hear or feel their stomach growling. Skipping breakfast will help control or reduce your hunger. Thus you only eat when your body is truly craving nutrition.

In other words, I.F. is pretty amazing. Researchers are still trying to find out why it’s so amazing, but they’re starting to hone in on a few contributing factors. For instance, a 2015 study performed at the Yale School of Medicine determined that fasting stimulates the release of the compound beta-hydroxybutyrate (BHB).

BHB directly inhibits the inflammasome protein complex, which drives the inflammatory response in disorders including autoimmune diseases, Type 2 diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, atherosclerosis and autoinflammatory disorders. In other words, inflammation is a known body-wrecker, and fasting can help prevent the inflammatory response and its associated diseases.

Just be aware that many of the studies performed to date have been on mice and other animals. There have been fewer human studies, so definitive benefits for human population are less clear.

Obviously, above and beyond the debunking of long-believed myths, there are numerous benefits to Intermittent Fasting that make it so popular.

As we’ve established thus far, people who practice I.F. eat less frequently. In addition to feeling hungry less often and more full when they do eat, these people benefit in terms of practicality and logistics.

After all, eating fewer meals means fewer meals and buying fewer meals. In addition to saving you time (and probably money), this also means that you’re exposed to flavors less often, and are therefore less likely to get bored and eat something you shouldn’t.

We’ve also mentioned that eating less frequently tends to result in eating fewer calories overall, but that’s a pretty important point so it bears repeating: eating less frequently tends to result in eating few calories overall.

And speaking of caloric restriction: that brings us to another benefit. I.F. plans that require full-day fasting drastically reduce your calorie intake, so if you are using a style of I.F. which requires you to fast for 24 hours twice per week, you’re reducing your food intake by about 30%. It’s not hard to see how that would lead to weight loss.

Going a little further, by restricting calories, you’re forcing the body to look elsewhere than the gut for energy, which can encourage cellular repair. That is, a cell will turn to its own damaged proteins for energy.

While that cycle would be bad in the long term, keep in mind you’re only fasting for “brief” periods. When you eat again the cell will use the new cell-stuff to replace the old cell-stuff that’s been consumed.

All told, this phenomenon—which again, stems from caloric restriction—can generally help slow both disease and the aging process.

For something more specific: one study out of the University of Utah showed that people who fasted just one day per month were 40% less likely to suffer from clogged arteries.

While there’s certainly a lot to be said for caloric restriction, it’s important to keep in mind that intermittent fasting isn’t just about eating fewer calories—there are also hormonal benefits that lead to improved body composition.

For starters, there’s the improved insulin sensitivity that comes with fasting, especially when paired with exercises, as we’ve covered. However, fasting has other hormonal benefits, including (but not limited to) an increase in the secretion of growth hormone (GH).

Growth Hormone has a myriad benefits—a full discussion of which is beyond the scope of this writing—but for our purposes it’s enough to say that the more GH you produce, the faster you can lose fat and gain muscle. Additionally, GH tends to offset the effects of cortisol, which is (in part) related to belly-fat storage. So it seems likely that fasting can help you lose belly-fat, at least indirectly.

Still not satisfied? Well, if you need another benefit, fasting reduces inflammation, which can have implications for improved immunity and increased fat loss.

I cover most of this information in my intermittent fasting video here:

Types of Intermittent Fasting Protocols

As in all nutrition-related subjects, there are different approaches to I.F., none of which have been proclaimed the “outright winner” for fasting benefits.

This is in part because more research needs to be done, but also because everyone responds differently to nutritional interventions. In other words, outcomes can vary widely based on age, sex, activity level, underlying illnesses and weight.
Generally speaking, the most common approaches are:

● Feast/Fast
● 24 Hour Fast
● 20 Hour Fast (Warrior Diet)
● 16/8 Fast ( AKA Lean Gains)

Got it? Great. Let’s get going. And the top four intermittent fasting protocols are…

Feast/Fast

SUMMARY: The feast/fast model, which I’ve been using consistently for close to 8 years, is my own small contribution to the community of intermittent fasting protocols.

Some time during 2004, I noticed that while I was getting a ton of benefit from cheat days in terms of fat loss and mental reprieve, the digestive aftermath wasn’t pleasant. If I cheated on a Sunday, I would pay for it Monday by means of intestinal distress.

Not only would I be in the bathroom more than I wanted, but my stomach would hurt and eating was a huge chore.

I had come from the old-school bodybuilding mentality of, “if you fall off the wagon, get right back on, immediately.” The old way of thinking states that even if you had a cheat meal/cheat day, if you didn’t go back to your regularly scheduled meals, you’d do more harm than good.

In my case, this meant a bowl of oatmeal and several eggs first thing in the morning. After a night of eating pasta, ice cream, brownies and steak (yes, all at once), the last thing I wanted to do first thing in the morning was eat.

After some time, I discarded the bodybuilding “rules” and started pushing my first meal of the day back by a few hours…then a few more. Eventually, I stopped eating altogether. And my results got even better.

I’ve written about this both here and here, so let’s move on.

BENEFITS: When I started looking into fasting (mainly to justify my not-eating), I came across a few different reasons why the feast/fast worked so well; some had to do with fasting, obviously, but there was some stuff that had to do specifically with the cheat day as well.

Like any style of fasting, removing food for an extended period of time can lead to fat loss, because it often leads to lower caloric intake. Pretty simple. However, the reason this works well is because it’s coming on the heels of a cheat day. Again, I’ve written about this before, so I’ll be brief.

The abridged version: when you’re dieting, leptin-hormone controlling satiety- levels drop, which slows down fat loss. When you overfeed (cheat), leptin levels get bumped back up, increasing rate of fat loss. Therefore scheduling a period of fasting subsequent to a cheat day does two things:

1. Prevents any fat gain from the caloric spillover of eating, oh, I dunno, 14,000 calories worth of ice cream by creating an immediate deficit.

2. Elevated leptin levels from the cheat prevent stagnated fat loss, allowing the hormonal benefit from the fast (explained HERE) to proceed uninterrupted.

More than anything, this is just a practical approach and was created to alleviate discomfort. I started using this method before looking into science of any kind; it just happened to work.

DRAWBACKS:There are a few here.

First,  in order for this to be applicable, you have to have a cheat day—can’t exactly do a feast/fast without the feast. Some people don’t like cheat days (I know, weird, right?). I made a pretty compelling argument for the inclusion of cheat days here, but if you don’t like them, you don’t have to use them.

From there, the main drawback is that you’re really looking at a 32 to 36-hour fasting period. If your last meal on your cheat day is before bed (assume 10 p.m.) on Sunday, and you don’t eat at all on Monday, your first meal is breakfast Tuesday morning. For a number of people, this has proved to be a pretty difficult thing to do.

I believe that with some practice just about anyone can abstain from food for an extended period of time with little discomfort, but for a lot of people, the idea of going without food for a day and a half is a bleak proposition.

For these people, I let them keep the training wheels on for a few weeks, allowing a small dinner on Monday night to take the edge off of the hunger. This won’t detract from any of the hormonal stuff, it just adds in some calories where there weren’t any before.

HOW (AND WHEN) TO USE FEAST/FAST: I am a big fan of cheat days, so I use this method nearly every week. I like my cheat days to coincide with Sundays—because, call me crazy, but I like wings and nachos when I watch football.

This means that Mondays, I don’t eat AT ALL. I think this is a good fit for most people – Monday happens to be the busiest day for most people, and so if ever there was a time where it helped to free up a few hours by not eating, this is it. Also, since people are busier, they tend not to realize they’re hungry. Overall, this is a fantastic combo that works very well for most people.

OVERALL IMPRESSIONS: Again, this is my method, so I can’t really be objective here, but it’s worked well for me in the past and all of my clients who have tried it.

24-Hour Fast (aka Eat-Stop-Eat)

SUMMARY: A 24-hour fasting period is essentially what it sounds like: if your last meal is at 8pm on Monday, then you do not eat again (at all) until Tuesday at 8pm. This can be done 1 to 3 times per week; two being the most common iteration.

It’s impossible to talk about 24-Hour fasts without talking about Brad Pilon and his book “Eat-Stop-Eat”, which is the definitive book on this style of fasting. ESE has been around for several years, but Brad continues to publish updated versions with more science whenever he can. It’s a well-researched book that also happens to be well-written.

Brad was one of the first people talking about I.F., and his approach is one of “lifestyle, not diet.” Brad discussed much of this in an interview I did with him, which you can read here.

BENEFITS: The 24-hour fast works well for a number of reasons. Firstit is easily adaptable to any lifestyle, and it’s very hard to screw up. The only rule is don’t eat for 24 hours. As mentioned above, this is much easier than a 36 hour fast, especially for those new to it.

Secondly, like most methods of fasting, the abstinence from caloric intake for large periods of time is going to be a large part of the reason for success. For example, if you generally eat 2,000 calories every day, that’s 14,000 calories over the course of a week.

If you remove two of those days, you’re eating 4,000 calories less. Without any other changes to your lifestyle, you’d be on pace for over one pound of fat per week. Even if you compensate and eat a little more on the days you’re not fasting, you are still going to wind up with a fairly substantial caloric deficit. Add in some exercise, and it’s not hard to see consistent weight loss.

Caloric manipulation aside, this style of fasting works incredibly well because of the effect that fasting has on your overall hormonal environment. More specifically, when we talk about fasting, we’re really going to talk about two hormones: insulin and growth hormone.

With regard to insulin, it seems the less often you eat, the less often you raise insulin levels. This is not surprising, obviously. It’s even less surprising that this would lead to fat loss, since we know that chronically elevated insulin levels make it very difficult to lose fat.

Therefore, if you’re eating less often, you’re going to have fewer insulin issues—even if you’re eating the same foods in the same amounts. (This, is a pretty strong argument against the popular frequent feeding method of 5 to 6 meals per day.) However, while fasting and infrequent feeding helps to control insulin and keep it low, that’s not enough to stimulate fat loss…unless growth hormone is present.

If insulin AND growth hormone are both low, there isn’t a huge effect on fat loss. And so, while insulin management is important, growth hormone management is even more important. Which brings us to the very predictable point: The effect of fasting on growth hormone is incredibly important.

Your body releases GH pretty consistently, but research has shown increased secretion of growth hormone in three specific instances:

● During/immediately after sleep
● After exercise (as little as 10 minutes)
● During and immediately after a fast

Looking at these three things—all of which are thoroughly discussed in Pilon’s Eat-Stop-Eat—it’s not hard to come up with a “best of all worlds” scenario. If you produce a lot of GH while sleeping, and you produce it while fasting, then the obvious combination is to continue fasting after you wake, allowing for prolonged GH secretion. From there, exercise will allow for increased production in addition to your prolonged secretion.

Overall, this maximizes both the presence of GH and its effect. In addition, the elevated GH in combination with the low insulin is a deadly one-two punch to your body fat.

Finally one of the main benefits of both this style of fasting and the book itself is the incredible flexibility of the program and the ease with which you can adapt it to your lifestyle—you can fast any day you like, and can move it around at will to suit your social life, which is important.

DRAWBACKS: There aren’t many here. The main problem that clients of mine seem have here is that 24 hours seems like a long time to go without food; however, this is not unique to 24-hour fasting. That said, there are some people who seem to have medical problems with abstaining from food for a significant length of time. In particular, people with low blood sugar seem to have an issue. If you are hypoglycemic, you may want to tread lightly.

The only other problem here would be for people who train on fast days and don’t want to miss out on post-workout nutrition. This can be alleviated by either moving your workout to the end of the fasting period, or simply scheduling your off days and fast days to coincide.

HOW (AND WHEN) TO USE 24-HOUR FASTS: This is a style of fasting I tend to use when I get very busy and have to train in the evenings. Also, I use this pretty much any day when I have to go out to a large social dinner and am not going to be watching my diet. For example, if I am going out on a Friday night, I might make my least meal Thursday at 8pm. Then, at dinner Friday, I’ll get to eat a lot of food, perhaps enjoy dessert, and be fine, even if I go out after and eat again.

OVERALL IMPRESSION: While this type of fasting is suitable for more than “damage control,” it works well for me in an occasional fashion. However, for many of my coaching clients, this is a sort of “every other day” approach that works well with them.
More than anything else, I frequently find myself referring people to Pilon’s book as a an IF primer, and a good resource for understanding a lot of the science behind why fasting works. Check out Brad’s site and book for more info.

20-Hour Fast (aka Warrior Diet)

SUMMARY: The Warrior Diet was the first type of structured fasting that I tried. I initially read about it in an interview with the author, Ori Hofmekler on T-Nation back in 1999. I tried the diet for the first time in 2002.

Simply, the diet is a 20-hour fast followed by a 4-hour feeding period. As the name implies this is inspired by the nutritional habits of the warriors of antiquity, who certainly weren’t in the habit of eating six meals per day.

Instead, warriors in cultures ranging from Roman centurions to the Spartan elite subsisted on one to two meals: a large meal in the evening and (sometimes) a small meal in the morning, according to the author. The diet itself is modeled after this type of eating schedule; however, it’s worth noting that this is often criticized for not being “true” IF.

While having a small breakfast and a large dinner will probably work for weight loss, there may only be 8 to 10 hours between them; some people posit, isn’t long enough to get the benefits of fasting.

Moreover, during the fasting part of the day, the diet allows for mild consumption—you’d be allowed to eat a few servings of raw fruits and vegetables and a few servings of protein (protein shakes included) if needed/wanted.

These are kept quite small. Having said that, some fasting purists understandably maintain that Warrior Dieting, is not fasting.

In practice, however, most people skip the small meal and simply have one large meal at the end of the day.

BENEFITS: Much like a 24-hour fast, a 20-hour fast allows you to reap the hormonal benefit of increased growth hormone. And, like all fasting, generally will result in fewer calories being consumed.

The benefit that is unique to this type of fasting is that you’re generally eating one large meal and, therefore, the make up of such a meal isn’t as important as you might think; as long as you get adequate protein, you can eat “junkier” foods and still do well.

Moreover, having only one meal makes life pretty simple, and less thinking means less screw-ups.

DRAWBACKS: On the flip side, we’re running into the issue of hunger, which isn’t unique to Warrior Dieting.

The main drawback in my experience comes from the meal itself—trying to get all of your calories in a single meal means that meal is, by necessity, quite large. So large, that eating it often leads to discomfort. This is why many people turn to less wholesome foods, getting in 2,000 calories of chicken, veggies and rice isn’t nearly as easy as getting in chicken wings and French fries.

OVERALL IMPRESSION: It’s a generally good dietary practice, and certainly easy to follow.

One criticism often made is that the points are anecdotal, with very little scientific evidence to support the arguments. While some I.F. authorities dismiss the Warrior Diet based on that, I feel it should be respectfully acknowledged given that it was the book that got people talking several years back.

Moreover, while the book does lack science, it’s truly an enjoyable read. The author has a very engaging writing style and adding to the fun is the fact that he was an editor for Penthouse.

16/8 Fasting (aka LeanGains)

SUMMARY: Popularized by Martin Berkhan, LeanGains or 16/8 is a style of I.F. where the fasting period is 16 hours, and the feeding window is shortened to 8 hours. During this time, users may eat as few meals as they like, with the most frequent iteration being three meals.

Designed specifically with training in mind and mean to to be used for such, the 16/8 method has specific post-workout suggestions and recommendations. In nearly all ways, it’s the most sophisticated form of intermittent fasting.

Berkhan is great in terms of showing his research, and his clients get excellent results.

BENEFITS: In addition to having all of the benefits inherent in other types of fasting, the 16/8 methods is a stand out because it offers an advanced level of hormonal management.

While something like 24-Hour Fasting or Alternate Day Fasting will give you these benefits, these methods are not for daily practice, whereas 16/8 is. This means that you are going to have a daily increase in GH, which leads to greater effects.

Moreover, daily practice means that you’re eating the same way every day; this means that you don’t experience ups and downs in hunger, as with some other forms of fasting. Put another way, some people experience difficulty with fasting for 24 to 36 hours because they do it infrequently; not an issue with daily practice.

There is also the benefit of hunger management. A number of studies have recently shown that larger, infrequent meals are better for increased satiety than small, frequent meals—so you’ll be fuller, longer.

DRAWBACKS: There are very few drawbacks to this style of I.F., and these mainly come from scheduling. You see, from everything I’ve seen and read, the LG protocol is MOST effective if the workout is performed in a fasted state, and the meal that breaks the fast is immediately consumed post workout.

For some, execution can become a little impractical. For most people, adhering to that simple rule forces them to shift the feeding window to inconvenient times. I find that most of my clients are able to workout either in the morning (roughly 6am, before work) or in the evening (6 p.m.), after work.

Given that we want to have a 16-hour fasting window that ends with the PWO meal and begins an 8-hour feeding window, you can see how either of those times present some issues. For example, let’s look at 6am. In order for this to work as your first meal, your last meal is going to be at 4 p.m. (allowing you to fast for 16 hours until your next feeding window).

Right off the bat, I see three (theoretical) problems arising here. This first is that having your last meal at 4pm can present some social issues, at least if you ever want to have dinner with your friends or family.

The second is that your feeding window is going to coincide almost minute for minute with your workday, making it difficult to eat your meals, let alone enjoy them. The third problem is that a good number of your fasting hours are after your feeding hours have ended. In my experience, clients who try to have ‘cutoff’ time for eating aren’t successful.

That said, if you’re looking to try 16/8 and can only work out in the a.m., it’s certainly doable, just be aware of this going in. And, of course, this “problem” is really only applicable to certain people. Like any other style of eating, make it work for you—within the rules of the system.

HOW (AND WHEN) TO USE 16/8: This style of fasting fits very well with my life, because I work from home.

For me, it’s very easy to plan my meals and workouts around one another, and making last minute changes isn’t a problem. Most days of the week—usually Wednesday through Saturday—I do some form of 16/8.

I like to workout anywhere between 12 and 2 p.m., so I just judge my last meal the night before based on when I’m going to train the next day. Sometimes I’ll wind up with an 18 hour fast instead of 16, but, again, this is really no big deal.

OVERALL IMPRESSION: Of all intermittent fasting protocols, 16/8 is probably the most sophisticated, in terms of both intention and execution. While most fasting is effective mainly because it prevents you from eating, LeanGains is really about making your hormones your bitch. Which is awesome.

This style of I.F. is best for serious folks and those who are already lean. This is the ONLY style of I.F. that was designed specifically with fitness-oriented people in mind; therefore yields exceptional results for folks who train consistently.

It’s worth mentioning that Berkhan is one of the guys most responsible for the “I.F. movement,” and spent years arguing against ideas that many fitness pros (myself included) thought were “fact.”

All in all, he and Pilon are a big part of the reason guys who weren’t talking about I.F. last year are talking about it this year. So, while he didn’t invent I.F., I feel I should give him a wi-five. If you haven’t already, please check out his site here.

So, You Can Stop Stressing About the Most Important Meal of the Day.

The US government and mainstream media have created strong cognitive biases surrounding the importance of breakfast. Over the past 20 years, how many commercials have you heard that called it, “The most important meal of the day?” A lot. A lot of commercials with really happy people who are surrounded by cute, animated animals as they eat breakfast and expound upon its virtues.

Breakfast became my favorite meal of the day when I was younger – solely because I got a toy in my breakfast cereal.

Beyond mainstream media, we’ve had the government telling us that we’re at risk of heart disease and excess weight gain if we skip breakfast, but have no fear. The US Government released a brand new set of dietary guidelines stating that skipping breakfast is no longer considered a health hazard.

It’s a lot of flip-flopping, but they finally got it right, so you can let it go. Let go of the belief that skipping breakfast is a threat to your core identity, because not only is skipping breakfast not going to have any adverse health effects, there are a slew of reasons why you should skip it – starting with convenience.

Note: I’m omitting the most significant reason (in my opinion) which is the potential to help you burn a lot more fat, with a lot less effort, by allowing you to extend your fasting window.

As I mentioned above, there is research on both sides of the conversation, but just know that you will in no way start gaining weight due to your decision to start skipping breakfast.

If your still aren’t convinced on the benefits of I.F., here are 6 more reasons why you should make intermittent fasting part of your lifestyle.

1. Convenience

More meals equate to more time spent preparing to eat, as well as eating. I don’t know about you, but I have a lot of stuff I want to learn and accomplish in life, so if I can save time every day skipping the entire breakfast routine AND see an increase in fat loss, I’m going to do it.

2. Happier Brain

It’s something young people don’t think about often, but there’s a lot of research pointing to fasting as one of the best things you can do to avoid Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease. Beyond the benefits in the future, fasting practices have shown cognitive benefits that can help you think more clearly.

This may sound counterintuitive if you’ve been eating breakfast for years, but after a few weeks of skipping it, you’ll notice an increased sense of clarity and focus when you’re in your fasted state.

3. Increased Productivity

The key to my creative space is a fasted morning and a double Americano. Talk about a flow state. Without having to worry about where your first meal’s coming from each morning, you get to jump into accomplishing things on your to-do list without interruption.

4. Who Wants to Live Forever?

There is a lot of research circulating around the idea that fasting during a portion of your day can lead to an increased lifespan. During periods of fasting, your body spends less energy digesting food and more energy repairing and regenerating new healthy cells.

5. For the Love of Money

This point really seems to piss people off for whatever reason, but it’s simple: buying one less meal a day means you’re spending less money.

6. The Truth About Hunger Pains

Most people don’t really know what real hunger feels like. Instead of waiting until hunger starts to really set in, we’ve been systematically trained to eat in the morning because it’s just what you do.

This type of forced eating does jump start your metabolism, but it also jump starts your ghrelin production. Gherkin is the hormone released to signal hunger. This means you’re going to feel much hungrier, for the rest of the day. Putting you at risk of eating more and potentially overeating throughout the day.

Getting into a routine where you skip breakfast teaches your body to understand what it feels like when you’re actually hungry, and on top of that, it allows you to feast when you get hungry instead of having to control your portions.

When I’m hungry, I don’t want to graze, I want to feast. This allows for that. If you can relate to this, you’re going to love removing breakfast from your daily routine. If you are ready to take the plunge, here are 11 ways to help you get started.

11 Ways to Start Intermittent Fasting Today

1. Know Thyself and Know Thy Challenges.

Intermittent fasting requires control and restriction during fasting periods. If you are prone to disordered eating or eating disorders, IF could act as a trigger for unhealthy behaviors. Be very careful about trying IF if you think you might use it as an excuse for ongoing or overly restrictive calorie consumption.

2. Keep Training.

The IF studies performed on humans in relation to body composition, muscle mass and athletic performance indicate that intermittent fasting produces the best results when done in conjunction with strength training.

You’re more likely to reduce body fat percentage and maintain or improve muscle mass when you exercise and fast together (although not necessarily on the same days).

3. Eat Well When You’re Not Fasting.

One of the big challenges of a fasting diet is the inclination to over-consume during non-fasting periods. While you don’t necessarily need to count calories or restrict food intake when you’re not fasting, you should prioritize eating healthy, whole foods.

If you counteract your fast with a day of overzealous bingeing on highly processed sugars, you may not see the changes or benefits associated with intermittent fasting.

4. Ease Your Way In.

Intermittent fasting, ultimately, is a lifestyle change. But there’s no reason you can’t give it a test run to see if it’s an approach you’re comfortable with.

Try a single, 24-hour fast to see how it feels, or follow a week of partial day fasting with an 8-hour eating window between 11am and 7pm or 12pm and 8pm. If you find the experience tolerable, consider following an ongoing plan.

5. Grit Not Grits.

This is a big one. Understand that unless you’re someone who never gets hungry early in the day, the first 3 to 6 weeks are going to suck. You’ll experience hunger pangs during this initial periods, and your main tool to get through it is going to be grit.

Consider it a personal challenge that you’re taking on. You’ll notice that as the weeks go by, your body will adapt and you’ll slowly begin to only experience hunger later in the day. Your body is incredibly intelligent.

As long as you give it the time to adapt, you’ll easily reset your homeostatic rhythm (the body’s natural rhythm) to eating later in the day.

6. Black Coffee Helps.

To get the benefits of skipping breakfast, you don’t need to skip out on your morning coffee. Coffee acts as an appetite suppressant and will make your morning a lot less difficult when you’re first getting started.

7. Stay Busy.

Take this newfound chunk of time and put it to good use; completely immerse yourself in something. That immersion and potential flow you enter is going to divert your attention away from any cravings you experience. This is more important than you may imagine. Don’t let yourself get bored. Stay engaged and use your mornings to complete your most energy-intensive tasks.

8. Hydrating Helps.

A lot of what we perceive to be hunger can actually be attributed to dehydration. Use this window of time where you’re not eating to get uber hydrated for the day. I recommend drinking half your bodyweight in ounces of water each day (at minimum). Try to get in as much water as possible during the a.m.

9. Accept That You’re Going to Be The Weird Friend.

And so fucking what? You’re working towards becoming the best version of yourself. Skipping breakfast is a minor choice that doesn’t affect anyone else. If someone has a problem with it and continues to express it, then it’s due to a deeper insecurity on their end, not yours.

10. Let Yourself Off the Hook.

From time to time, you might go out to brunch with friends, and you’re welcome to take a day every week or two to have breakfast and indulge your eggs benedict cravings. Diverging from the no breakfast club 10% of the time isn’t going to offset all the benefits you’re receiving from the others days of skipping breakfast.

11. Create Leverage.

I can list all the benefits to why skipping breakfast is going to make your life better, but at the end of the day, whether or not you’re successful in the first few weeks will come down to willpower. Humans are 10 times more likely to take action in order to avoid pain than to gain pleasure. It’s just how we’re hardwired.

Use this to your advantage; tell yourself that if you break your fast more than once a week, then something awful is going to happen. I use leverage for everything in my life when I want to create healthy habits and get rid of unhealthy ones.

I recommend you think of something that will motivate you substantially, be it an awful exercise or burning a stack of money, and use that as leverage to get yourself to follow through. Make yourself do 300 burpees or make a donation to a cause that you don’t support.

The Importance of a Morning Routine

If you are going to go forward with regular implementing intermittent fasting into your lifestyle, then I cannot stress the importance of having a consistent morning routine.

A few months back, I posted a picture to my Instagram account that featured a small piece of my morning routine: drinking a glass of warm water mixed with lime juice and a dash of sea salt. Outside of being tasty, it’s got a host of benefits.

Since then, I’ve been getting a lot of questions about both that particular concoction, any others I drink, and my morning routine in general.

I started writing it all out, but then I got lazy and stopped. And then I looked in the mirror and realized I was having an incredible hair day, so I should just go ahead and film a video.

So, that’s what I did.

Which is to say that I’ve got a content-rich video for you detailing exactly what I put in my body each and every morning to help me stay healthy, fit, and keep my hair looking thick and luxurious.

This is worth thinking about. Morning routines, that is; not my hair.

So, check it out:

Final Thoughts

If you still aren’t convinced intermittent fasting is right for your or are uncomfortable with skipping or pushing breakfast back, then I recommend you try it for yourself and see what happens.

Remember, your body has plenty of stored liver glycogen, roughly 75 to 100 grams or 300 to 400 calories worth of stored glucose (energy) if you truly need it. Not to mention you have plenty of additional fat that you will be burning regardless of your body composition, lean or fat. So don’t panic, if you decide to skip breakfast, you have plenty of fuel reserves to cover you.

Again, don’t think that you should never eat breakfast again, but rather use this as a strategy to help burn more fat. Like I mentioned earlier, most people these days are carrying extra fat and eating breakfast isn’t helping them lose it – especially if that breakfast involves traditional sugary breakfast foods. Skipping breakfast can help. You can skip breakfast twice a week, three times, or five days a week (five days a week is my goal). It keeps me in control, healthy, and fat off my body.

So slow down, holster your fork and burn some fat!

Also,

Onnit would like to thank John Romaniello, Laura Williams, Brandon Epstein, and Jon Celis for their contributions to putting this guide together.

And for the most popular questions regarding IF, check out this post covering Intermittent Fasting FAQs.

For more information on intermittent fasting and other great fitness tips check out the resources below:

1. Romanfitnesssystems.com
2.Jumpropedudes.com
3. GirlsGoneSporty.com
4. Absolutraining.com

The post The Beginner’s Guide to Intermittent Fasting appeared first on Onnit Academy.

So, if you’re interested in being vegan and keto, here’s how to do it.

The Complete Vegan Keto Diet and Food List

What Is A Vegan Keto Diet?

First, let’s be clear about what these terms “vegan” and “keto” really mean.

Vegans consume no animal products. Like vegetarians, they don’t eat meat, poultry, or fish, but they also avoid dairy, eggs, and other foods that contain even trace amounts of animal ingredients. Most vegans won’t eat gelatin (made from bones), casein (a milk protein), and fish oil supplements, or refined sugar (some brands of which use cow bones as a whitening agent).

There are many benefits to a vegan diet, including some that affect health and longevity. The authors of a 2016 study found evidence that reducing animal-based foods (when they’re conventionally raised on factory farms, that is, not organic) may reduce the incidence of diabetes, obesity, cataracts, and heart disease. Other people go vegan for ethical reasons, believing animal consumption to be cruel and harmful to the environment.

Now, what about those keto guys and gals?

Ketogenic diets originated in the 1920s as a treatment for epilepsy, but they’ve since been credited for promoting a number of health benefits ranging from improved insulin sensitivity to everyday mental clarity, in addition to fast weight loss. Strict ketogenic—or “keto”—dieters limit carbohydrate intake to about 5% of their daily calories while keeping protein intake at around 20%. Fats, then, make up close to 75% of their calories. (For more details on setting up various ketogenic diets, see our guide HERE.)

Restricting carbs and relying on dietary fat causes the liver to convert fat into molecules called ketones, which are used as fuel. When ketones show up above a certain threshold in your urine or in a breath test, you’re officially in what’s known as ketosis, and your body is running on ketones.

One big reason people go keto is sustained energy. When you don’t eat copious amounts of carbs, levels of insulin—the hormone that controls blood sugar—remain much steadier than they do on the carbohydrate-based diet most people are used to. When your blood sugar is stable, you don’t have afternoon energy crashes that make you want to fall asleep at your desk. A study in the Annals of Internal Medicine showed that a ketogenic diet controlled blood sugar more effectively than a more standard, low-calorie diet that was high in carbs.

Keto diets may also make it easier to burn extra fat off your waistline. Research from 2013 in the British Journal of Nutrition found that keto dieters lost more weight long-term than those who ate a low-fat diet.

Of course, one of the big complaints about a keto diet is that—like a vegan approach—it’s very restrictive and can be hard to stick to. That’s why we like to make people aware of a slightly less rigid approach we call Mod Keto that offers much of the same benefits as a strict keto diet but is much easier to follow long-term. With Mod Keto, carbs are raised to about 20% of your total caloric intake, protein to 20–40%, and fat is reduced to 40–60%. While not technically ketogenic (your body will probably not produce appreciable ketones at these levels), the higher protein and carb allowance supports workouts and activity better while still stabilizing blood sugar and promoting fat burning.

So we’ve got vegan and we’ve got keto… Put them together and you’ve got a plan that has you eating a higher-fat, lower-carb menu that is also devoid of animal products.

It sounds simple enough in theory, but the two approaches can be contradictory. Low-carb, high-fat meat, fish, and poultry are staples for keto dieters, but they don’t work at all for vegans. Meanwhile, high-protein legumes and meat substitutes are go-to’s for vegans, but their carb content makes them verboten for keto adherents.

How, then, does a person balance the two?

The Vegan Keto Food List

The goal for the vegan keto-dieter is to eat:

• plenty of plant-based fats
• some plant-based proteins
• as few carbs possible

Below are some foods that fit the vegan-keto bill nicely, courtesy of Liz MacDowell, N.C., founder of meatfreeketo.com. “This is basically every vegan keto-friendly whole food in your typical North American grocery store,” she says, “which can help take care of the what-can-you-eat-on-vegan-keto question.”

Good protein sources are marked with a “p”, while foods that have a higher-carb content (and should, therefore, be eaten sparingly) are marked with an asterisk (*).

Nuts

• Almonds*
• Brazil nuts
• Hazelnuts/filberts
• Macadamia nuts
• Pecans
• Peanuts*
• Pine nuts*
• Walnuts

Seeds

• Chia
• Hemp
• Pumpkin
• Sunflower

Nut & Seed Butters

• Almond butter
• Coconut butter/coconut manna (“meat” of the coconut)
• Hazelnut butter
• Macadamia nut butter
• Peanut butter
• Pecan butter
• Sunflower seed butter
• Tahini Walnut butter

Other Whole-Food Fat Sources

• • • Avocados
    • Coconuts
    • Olives

Healthy Oils

• • • Almond oil
    • Avocado oil
    • Cacao butter
    • Coconut oil
    • Flaxseed oil
    • Hazelnut oil
    • Macadamia nut oil
    • MCT oil
    • Olive oil

Vegetables

• • • Artichoke hearts
    • Arugula
    • Asparagus
    • Bell peppers
    • Beets*
    • Bok choy
    • Broccoli
    • Brussels sprouts*
    • Cabbage
    • Carrots*
    • Cauliflower
    • Celery
    • Celeriac*
    • Chard
    • Collards
    • Cucumbers
    • Daikon radish
    • Dandelion greens
    • Eggplant
    • Endive
    • Fennel
    • Fiddleheads
    • Garlic
    • Jicama*
    • Kale*
    • Kohlrabi
    • Lettuce (all types)
    • Mushrooms
    • Mustard greens
    • Okra
    • Onion
    • Radishes
    • Rhubarb
    • Rutabaga*
    • Shallots
    • Spinach
    • Squash—winter*
    • Squash—summer
    • Swiss chard
    • Turnips
    • Zucchini

Fruits

• • • Avocados
    • Blueberries*
    • Coconuts
    • Cranberries
    • Lemons
    • Limes
    • Olives
    • Raspberries
    • Strawberries
    • Tomatoes
    • Watermelon

Sauces & Condiments

• • • Chili sauce
    • Hot sauce
    • Hummus*
    • Mustard
    • Soy sauce/tamari
    • Salsa
    • Tomato sauce
    • Vinegar

Vegan Keto Fridge Staples

• • • Apple cider vinegar
    • Dairy-free yogurt*
    • Dairy-free cheese*
    • Pickles
    • Micro-greens
    • Sauerkraut
    • Seitan*(p)
    • Sprouts (all kinds)
    • Tempeh (p)
    • Tofu (p)

Vegan Keto Pantry Staples

• • • Almond flour
    • Artichoke hearts
    • Baking powder
    • Baking soda
    • Coconut flour
    • Coconut milk (canned, full fat)
    • Cocoa or cacao powder
    • Dark chocolate (85% and up)
    • Glucomannan powder
    • Hearts of palm
    • Jackfruit (green, canned in brine)
    • Psyllium Husk
    • Nutritional yeast
    • Vanilla extract (most brands OK, but check for sugar)

Other Vegan Keto Meal Staples

• • • Herbs and spices
    • Edamame
    • Kelp noodles
    • Kelp flakes
    • Lupini beans*(p)
    • Shirataki noodles
    • Nori sheets
    • Roasted seaweed

Foods You CAN’T EAT On A Vegan Keto Diet

• • • Meat, fish, poultry, dairy, eggs, other animal products
    • Gelatin
    • Sugar (refined, cane, honey, corn syrup, and all other forms)
    • Grains (wheat, pasta, rice)Legumes (beans)
    • Starchy vegetables (yams, potatoes)
    • High-carb nuts (chestnuts, cashews, pistachios)
    • Partially-hydrogenated oils (trans fats)
    • Refined vegetable oils**

**Even though they’re not derived from animals and are high in fat, oils such as canola, corn, rapeseed, and margarine are highly processed and have a poor ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 fatty acids. They promote inflammation in the body. Because they have low smoke points, these oils are also terrible choices for cooking. High heat will turn the fats in the oil rancid, and make it even more unhealthy, causing damage to your heart, neurological problems, and other health woes. Always cook with saturated fats, such as those found in coconut and red palm oil.

How Do I Limit Carbs on a Ketogenic Vegan Diet?

In our sandwich-with-a-side-of-bread culture, cutting carbs down to the wire trips many people up. “Exact numbers vary person to person, but in general, strict keto dieters need to consume less than 50 grams of carbs a day,” says exercise physiologist Michael T. Nelson, Ph.D. (miketnelson.com). “Some people need to go as low as 30 grams.” The Mod Keto approach allows two to three times as many, but it’s still very low-carb compared to the diet of the average American. (For reference, one banana, one apple, or a single slice of bread would put you over your daily carb allowance on a strict keto diet.)

Cutting out grains, rice, bread, and pasta will reduce your carb intake substantially, but you’ll also have to cut way back on nearly all fruits (exceptions are in the food list above, though even those should be eaten sparingly). Starchy vegetables like potatoes and yams are out, too. And the sugary dressings and sauces you may be so accustomed to that you don’t even question them anymore… well, start questioning them.

If you’re longing for carbs so badly that you feel your resolve to stay on the diet is breaking, it’s possible to trick your brain that you’re eating them by making approved foods look more like your starchy favorites. Cauliflower can be grated into “rice,” or boiled and mashed like potatoes. You can slice zucchini into noodles to (sort of) replicate pasta. See “Vegan Substitutions for the Keto Diet” below.
But by and large, you’ll simply have to develop a taste for fattier foods and rely on them to supply energy in place of carbs. Avocados, coconut oil, and nuts are all filling, flavorful options that can also power your workouts.

And speaking of working out, if you’re a gym rat or avid runner, prepare for your workouts to suck for a while until your body fully adapts to the diet. If you’re cutting out carbs for the first time, your body will need two weeks or more (and sometimes months) to fully support the demands of exercise with ketones. And if you’ve been relying on animal products, you may find it difficult to recover without the full array of amino acids that every serving of animal protein provides. You’ve chosen a hard road to travel, nutritionally, but don’t lose heart. Time and persistence will force your body to accommodate just about any regimen you subject it to, and there are plenty of people whose performance has thrived on unconventional diets.

A 2012 study found that gymnasts on a strict ketogenic diet for only 30 days lost weight without losing strength. The researchers concluded that keto eating may actually prove advantageous to athletes in weight-class sports since it could allow them to keep their strength up when competing at lighter body weights.

How Do I Get Enough Protein on the Ketogenic Vegan Diet?

For anyone following any vegan diet, and athletes especially, the question always comes up: “How do you get enough protein?” Nelson recommends about 0.7g of protein per pound of your goal body weight as a baseline daily intake for active people—and most nutritionists recommend up to one gram per pound if you’re weight training. (Goal body weight means the amount you want to weigh—not the number that currently comes up on the scale. So, if you weigh 205 pounds but remember looking and feeling your best when you weighed 175, eat 0.7g of protein x 175, or about 120 grams daily.)

Your main challenge will be to find plant-based protein sources to hit that number that isn’t also high in carbs.

To get an idea of what that entails, consider that an average-sized person who eats about 2,000 calories a day will need 100–200g protein daily (on the lower end for strict keto dieters, and on the higher side for those going the Mod Keto route). A three-quarter cup serving of sunflower seeds nets you 25–30g protein, but also costs you 10g of carbs. Almonds have a similar protein-to-carb ratio at 30g to 15g per cup. The key is to accumulate enough protein from vegan sources without letting your carbs creep up too high.

Your best bet for low-carb vegan protein may be hemp seeds, which provides 30g protein and 8g fiber (NOT counted as carbs) in a mere half cup. Seitan, which is made from wheat, is another good choice and offers about 18g protein and 2g carbs every three ounces. Tofu and tempeh rank high as well (tofu has an 8:1 ratio of protein to carbs; tempeh is about 6:1).

If you’re willing to go the supplement route, hemp and other vegan-sourced protein powders such as rice and pea, which have about a 5:1 protein-to-carb ratio, are the best choices and may be indispensable for athletes and workout fiends.

If you were doing a more conventional ketogenic diet previously and relying on animal foods, you may have only counted the protein in those foods toward your allotment for the day because they are complete sources. In other words, the protein in animal products contains all the essential amino acids that your body needs from food and in substantial amounts. This is a rare find in plant foods, and the reason that bodybuilders have historically kept track of the protein they eat from chicken, beef, and fish, but don’t consider the amount they take in from vegetables, grains, and nuts. The thing is, though, while they may be less bioavailable than animal foods, plant proteins are still usable by your body and still count toward your total—and if you’re going to forgo animal products entirely, you’ll need to get them in to support muscle, performance, and general health. Otherwise, you’ll be protein deficient.

Vegans have long known that they can’t get all the amino acids they need from one source of plant protein, so they make an effort to eat a diverse selection of them and often combine foods in the same meal to get a complimentary assortment of aminos. You don’t need to do this at every meal—your body can hold on to the aminos from one food a few hours until you eat another food with aminos that complement them and form a complete protein. But don’t get in the habit of basing your meals around only tofu or only hemp. Eat as broad a menu as you can to ensure the richest nutritional intake you can. (See more reasons to limit tofu under the vegan substitutes list below.)

Vegan Substitutes for the Keto Diet

If you’re already a keto eater used to animal products, the list below will give you ideas on how to switch to zero-cruelty food options while keeping carbs low. (Likewise, it will help vegans find lower-carb alternatives to their starchy or sugary favorites.) As always, be extra sure you’re staying faithful to the diet by checking labels for the presence of added sugar, carbs, and hydrogenated oils (harmful, processed fats that have no place in any healthy diet).

Replace the foods you’re currently eating in the left-hand column with those in the right-hand one.

Dairy foods

Grains and starches

Snacks

Desserts

Processed soy-based meat substitutes (such as Boca Burgers) and protein powders are major go-to’s for people transitioning to vegan diets, but they come with a catch. A 2016 position paper published by Virginia State University explains that soy contains isoflavones, a kind of plant estrogen that can act like the female hormone in humans. While typical serving sizes (one to three of soy foods, or less than 25g of soy protein from non-concentrated sources like tofu) have not been shown to be problematic, amounts more than that (totaling around 100mg isoflavones or greater daily) could negatively impact testosterone. To our thinking, why take the risk? It may be best for a keto dieter to get the majority of his/her protein from nuts, seeds, vegetables, and supplements and less from soy products, apart from the occasional slice of tofu.

Dominic D’Agostino, Ph.D., one of the world’s foremost ketogenic diet researchers and founder of ketonutrition.org, agrees. “I generally avoid soy isolate and soy milk,” he says. “But I don’t think this is a major concern unless you are consuming large amounts of soy.” Note that fermented soy products—such as soy sauce and tempeh—don’t pose the same risk, and can, therefore, be eaten more liberally.

Vegan Keto Diet Sample Meal Plan

The following menu, courtesy of Dr. Nelson, will give you an idea of how a day of eating on a vegan keto diet could look (with a Mod Keto carb allowance). One thing’s for sure: you can eat a high volume of food without having to worry about taking in too many calories, so you’re unlikely to gain weight by accident with this style of eating. It’s easy to stay satiated due to the fat content and the abundance of fresh vegetables makes this diet rich in phytonutrients and fiber. On the downside, it’s very tough to get enough protein in. As you can see, aiming for the bare minimum amount—20% of calories—almost certainly requires supplementation.

Breakfast

Smoothie made with:
Rice protein powder (30g protein)
½ cup mixed berries
1 tbsp MCT oil***
1 ½ tbsp almond butter
1 cup chaga tea

Lunch

3 servings tofu (300g)
2 cups asparagus, baked
2 tbsp MCT oil, as dressing

Snack

Salad with:
1 green bell pepper
2 cups cremini mushrooms
4 oz chopped onion
1 serving tempeh (100g)
1 tbsp olive oil
2 oz vegan teriyaki sauce

Dinner

Salad with:
2 cups spinach
4 oz cucumber
4 oz tomato
1 cup red cabbage, chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
¼ cup walnuts

Totals: 1,728 calories, 86g protein, 78g carbs, and 125g fat

***Whether you go full or Mod Keto, supplementing with MCT oil can help support ketosis by providing a quick-burning fat for fuel, says D’Agostino. Other helpful strategies for making a keto diet more user-friendly, he says, include “eating in a time-restricted window [such as 16 hours of fasting followed by an eight-hour period in which you get all your food in], and breaking the fast with a ketone supplement. You can have a whole-food vegan keto meal a few hours later.”

While it hasn’t been formally studied, “it is generally observed that, if you are keto-adapted,” says D’Agostino, “it is easy to fast for prolonged periods of time. This has practical benefits for occupations where stopping to eat would be an inconvenience—such as for military personnel—and jobs where you do not want to lose the flow of productivity.” If you do get hungry during a fast, D’Agostino recommends taking a supplement that provides ketones (known as exogenous ketones), which will help sustain ketosis and energy. “I typically take a ketone supplement late afternoon and follow up with a whole-food meal in the evening,” he says.

Common Vegan Keto Deficiencies (And How to Fix Them)

OK, you’ve banished nearly all carbs from your diet, kicked out the animal products, found a way to get all your protein in, and have fallen in love with avocados. You’ve pulled off the triple-Axel of diets… or have you?

In your admirable pursuit of both personal and planetary health, there’s still a good chance you may become deficient in one or more key nutrients essential for long-term health. These nutrients include:

Vitamin B12 (aka cobalamin)

It’s essential for your skin, eyes, hair, and nervous system, Metabolically, it helps you digest protein, fats, and carbs. Unfortunately, B12 is hard to come by in plant foods. Some decent vegan, lower-carb food sources include nutritional yeast, fortified almond milk (which only has 1g carbs/serving) and nori (purple seaweed, 0.5g carbs)
Still, most plant foods that offer B12 pack a lot of carbs at the same time (you’ll blow through 5g carbs getting your B12 RDA in nutritional yeast), so Nelson suggests getting the vitamin via a vegan supplement. Look for one that provides 6–10mcg of methylcobalamin (a form of B12), as opposed to cyanocobalamin, which is absorbed more readily

DHA and EPA

These omega-3 fats provide building blocks for cellular structures throughout the body and aid in the prevention of cardiovascular disease. Fish oil is the most common source of DHA and EPA, but a good vegan source—and one that, arguably, offers a better concentration of DHA—is algae (which is where those oily fish get their omega-3s from anyway). By supplementing with algae oil, you’re effectively cutting out the middle-fish. Aim for about 300mg/day.

Iron

This mineral is the key ingredient in hemoglobin, which transports oxygen from your lungs to the rest of your body. When levels get low, hemoglobin drops, and energy and vitality take a nosedive. Hair and nails get brittle and weak. If you’ve ever met a vegetarian who looks pale and routinely complains of exhaustion, low iron is often the reason.
Vegetable-sourced iron, known as non-heme iron, is harder to absorb than heme iron, which is found in animal products. This is why iron levels can plummet even when a plant-based dieter eats iron-rich foods like Swiss chard, nuts, and seeds. It’s wise, then, for vegan keto eaters to add a vegan-based iron supplement to their diets. This goes double for women, who lose some iron every month through menstruation. For women 19–50, 18mg of iron per day is recommended.

Vegan Keto Diet Recipes

Being a vegan keto dieter doesn’t have to limit you to salads and smoothies. It is possible to enjoy more gourmet fare by getting a little creative with how you prepare food. Liz MacDowell, a holistic nutrition consultant, and longtime keto dieter herself, offers up the following recipes, also available on her site meatfreeketo.com.

Vegan Chili “Fish” Tacos With Hempseed Sour Cream

For the “fish”:

1 can hearts of palm, drained, rinsed, and chopped
2 tbsp tamari, soy sauce, or liquid aminos
½ tsp garlic powder
½ tsp Sriracha or chili paste
1 tbsp sesame oil

For the hempseed sour cream:

1 cup hulled hempseeds
¼ cup lemon juice
¼ cup water
pinch of salt

Fixings

Romaine lettuce boats for taco shells
About a ¼ cup shredded purple cabbage
1 scallion, chopped
kelp flakes to taste (optional)
juice of 1 lime

Directions

1. Add all hempseed sour cream ingredients to a blender and process until smooth. Add water if you want a smoother, creamier texture. Set aside.
2. Place a saucepan over low heat and pour in the sesame oil. Add the hearts of palm mixture from step 1 and sauté until everything is warm and the excess liquid is absorbed (about 5 minutes).
3. Let the hearts cool a bit and then assemble tacos by layering the hearts in the lettuce boats first, then the cabbage, sour cream, and scallions. Sprinkle kelp flakes on top (if desired) and finish with lime juice.

Servings: 2, Calories per serving: 215, Protein per serving: 11g, Carbs per serving: 4g, Fat per serving: 16g

Vegan Keto Protein Brownies

Ingredients

1 ½ cups warm water
½ cup peanut butter
¼ cup sugar substitute
2 scoops plant-based protein powder
¼ cup cocoa powder
2 tbsp coconut flour
2 tsp baking powder

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and coat a baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray. In a bowl, combine the water, peanut butter, and sugar substitute.
2. In a separate bowl, sift together protein powder, cocoa, coconut flour, and baking powder.
3. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ones. A thick batter with a frosting-like texture will form.
4. Scoop the batter into the pan, smooth the surface, and bake 40–45 minutes (check that it’s done by inserting a knife; it should come out clean). Let cool before serving.

Servings: 8 brownies, Calories per serving: 157, Protein per serving: 12.5g, Carbs per serving: 4.2g, Fat per serving: 9g

Low-Carb Sandwich Bread (Soy-, Grain-, and Gluten-Free)

If going keto has you missing bread, this substitute offers much of the flavor and texture of real dough without the carbs or gluten.

Ingredients

½ cup psyllium husks
3 tbsp ground flax seed
1 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt (add up to 1 tsp if using unsalted peanut butter)
1 cup water
½ cup peanut butter (almond and sunflower seed butter work too)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Add psyllium, ground flax seed, baking powder, and salt in a mixing bowl and whisk until thoroughly combined.
2. Add water to the mixture and continue whisking until all the water has been absorbed. Mix in peanut butter until the mixture forms a uniform dough.
3. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Scoop mounds of the dough onto the paper and flatten them into discs that are about a quarter-inch thick. Bake 60 minutes.

Servings: 4 rolls, Calories per serving: 252, Protein per serving: 9g, Carbs per serving: 4g, Fat per serving: 12.5g

Want even more recipe options? Pick up The Ketogenic Cookbook by Jimmy Moore. It’s the most comprehensive collection of tasty keto-friendly eats we’ve come across yet.

The post The Complete Vegan Keto Diet and Food List appeared first on Onnit Academy.

Unfortunately, most people don’t get the full benefit of eating them—if they eat them at all—because they tend to smother these foods in fat and sugar to make them palatable.

When was the last time you ate cranberries that didn’t come from a can on Thanksgiving? Or pumpkin that wasn’t in pie or latte form?

That’s why we put together these recipes, which will help you enjoy the classic fall foods without sacrificing their nutrition.

Dig into delicious buffalo-wing flavored Brussels sprouts, creamy potato salad (with beets), zucchini that tastes like stuffed pasta shells, and all-natural fruit rollups that make you feel like a kid again. No artificial ingredients allowed.

We’ve even gone a step further and labeled them for you: “breakfast,” “lunch,” dinner,” etc. So you have clean, lean options for every meal and any time you get hungry. Summer may be gone, but abs are never out of season.

10 Healthy Fall Food Recipes

1. Breakfast: Pear & Pecan Overnight Oats

Yields: 1 serving

Ingredients

● ½ cup rolled oats, gluten-free
● 1 tbsp chia seeds
● ¾ cup unsweetened almond milk
● ¼ cup Greek yogurt, full fat
● ½ tsp ground cinnamon
● 1 tsp raw unfiltered honey
● 1 pear*, cored & chopped
● ¼ cup pecans
*Apple works well here too.

Directions

1. Add all ingredients to a bowl, airtight container, or Mason jar with a lid.
2. Stir until combined, cover, and chill in refrigerator for 3 hours or overnight to allow the oats and chia seeds to fully soak in the liquid.

If you like, you can save half of the pear and pecans for garnish when ready to eat.
* Add 1 scoop of your favorite vanilla, spiced or neutral protein powder to the ingredients mix before refrigeration for an added protein punch.

2. Lunch: Beet Potato Salad

Servings: 4 to 6

Ingredients

● 2 large beets, roasted
● 12 oz potatoes
● 1 celery rib, chopped
● ½ small red onion, minced
● 2 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and finely chopped
● 2 tbsp chives, chopped
● 2 tbsp fresh dill, chopped
● 2 tbsp sherry vinegar
● 2 tsp Dijon mustard
● Salt to taste
● ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
● ¼ cup plain Greek yogurt
● Freshly ground pepper to taste

Directions

1. Roast the beets in advance by wrapping in foil and baking at 400 degrees F for about an hour (until beets are fork tender).
2. Steam the potatoes in 1 inch of boiling water for 20 minutes and then remove from heat.
3. When they’re cool enough to handle, cut potatoes into small dice. Peel the beets and cut into small dice.
4. In a large bowl, combine beets with the potatoes, celery, onion, hard-boiled eggs, chives, and dill.
5. In a small bowl, whisk together the vinegar, mustard, and salt. Then whisk in the oil and yogurt.
6. Toss the dressing with the potato and beet mixture and add freshly ground pepper and more salt to taste. Serve right away or refrigerate.

3. Lunch: Fally-Loaded Greens

Yields: 2 servings

Ingredients

● 1 medium butternut squash or pumpkin, pitted, peeled and chopped into 1” cubes
● 1 tbsp unrefined avocado oil
● Himalayan salt, to taste
● 4 cups fresh arugula
● ½ cup feta cheese
● ½ cup pomegranate seeds
● ½ cup roasted pumpkin seeds
● 1 cup cooked quinoa
● 1 lemon
● ¼ cup olive oil
● Black pepper, to taste

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Toss butternut squash (or pumpkin) cubes with avocado oil, salt & pepper.
2. Assemble on a large rimmed baking sheet (line with parchment paper for easy clean-up).
3. Bake for approximately 25 minutes, tossing two or three times to brown the edges evenly.
4. Remove from oven, set aside to chill.
5. In one large serving bowl, add the arugula.
6. Top with crumbled feta, pomegranate seeds, pumpkin seeds, cooked quinoa, and the chilled roasted squash.
7. When ready to serve, squeeze fresh lemon juice and drizzle extra virgin olive oil over salad. Season with salt and pepper.
*For additional protein, we recommend a lightly seared or baked white fish like Chilean or Mediterranean sea bass.

4. Snack: Persimmon Fruit Leather

Servings: 4

Ingredients

● 3 ripe persimmons, stemmed and chopped
● 2 tbsp lemon juice
● 2 tbsp honey

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Add chopped persimmons, lemon juice, and honey to a blender and puree until smooth.
2. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Pour the mixture onto the paper and spread it with the back of a spoon to form a large rectangle.
3. Make sure the thickness is even throughout.
4. Bake approximately 2 ½ hours, or until fruit is dry and firm to the touch. Set aside and let cool at room temperature.
Note: The leather may feel dry and crispy right out of the oven—it will soften up within an hour of sitting out.
5. Use a pizza cutter to slice leather into strips. Roll leather up into pinwheels for a portable, fruit rollup-like snack.

5. Post-Workout: Pumpkin Spice Recovery Shake

Yields: 1 serving

Ingredients

● 2 scoops Recovery Protein
● ½ scoop Powerfood Vitality
● 1 banana, frozen
● ¼ cup pumpkin puree
● 1-2 tsp. maple syrup, grade B*
● 16 oz. unsweetened coconut milk
● ½ – 1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
● ½ tsp. Himalayan salt
● 1 cup ice
*You can also sweeten with coconut nectar, raw honey or 2-3 pitted dates!

Directions

1. Add everything to a blender. Pulse until smooth. Enjoy as a perfect post-workout shake; or just make it because you feel like it, and it tastes good. Both work!

6. Appetizer: Buffalo Brussels Sprouts

Servings: 6

Ingedients

● 1 pound Brussels sprouts, stemmed
● 2 large eggs, beaten
● 2 cups spelt flour
● 2 cups panko bread crumbs
● Avocado oil
● Kosher salt
● Freshly ground black pepper
● Frank’s Red Hot Buffalo Wings Sauce

Directions

1. Place a large pot filled with salted water over high heat. When the water is boiling, add the Brussels sprouts and cook until bright green and fork-tender—8 to 10 minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water.
2. Arrange egg and flour in two shallow bowls and place panko breadcrumbs in a large resealable plastic bag. Dip the sprouts in egg, then toss in flour, and add to the panko bag. Work in batches and shake until sprouts are fully coated with crumbs.
3. Coat a skillet with the oil and place over medium-high heat until the oil shines. Add Brussels sprouts to the pan and fry until golden and crispy—3 to 4 minutes. Cook in batches to accommodate the size of your skillet, adding oil if necessary.
4. Line a plate with paper towel and transfer cooked sprouts to it. Season with salt and pepper and serve with fat-free buffalo sauce.

7. Dinner: Stuffed Zucchini Boats

Servings: 4

Ingredients

● 4 zucchini, cut in half lengthwise
● 2 tsp olive oil
● 1 white onion, chopped
● 2 links sweet Italian turkey sausage, casing removed
● 1/4 tsp salt
● 1 1/4 cup arrabbiata sauce
● 1 cup shredded mozzarella
● Chopped parsley to taste

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Scrape out the flesh of the halved zucchini, leaving 1⁄4-inch thick shells. Chop the flesh of the zucchini into cubes and set aside.
2. Place a skillet over medium heat and add olive oil. When hot, add the zucchini flesh, onion, sausage, and salt.
3. Cook about 8 minutes, breaking up any chunks with a wooden spoon until sausage is browned.
4. In a baking dish (about 3 quarts), spread the arrabiatta sauce. Arrange zucchini shells in the dish, hollow sides up, and spoon the sausage mixture inside them.
5. Top with shredded mozzarella. Cover with foil and bake 30 minutes. Uncover, then bake 5 minutes. Garnish with parsley and serve.

8. Anytime: Slow-Cooker Butternut Squash Ginger Soup

Ingredients

● 1 large (or 2 small) butternut squash, peeled & diced
●1 large sweet potato, peeled & cubed
● 2 large carrots, diced
● 1 tsp. fresh ginger (or ½ tsp. ginger powder)
● 2 cups chicken or vegetable broth, organic if possible
● 4 cloves garlic
● 2 tsp. Himalayan salt
● 1 ½ tsp. turmeric
● ½ tsp. smoked paprika
● ¼ tsp. cayenne pepper
● 1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
● ¾ cup unsweetened coconut milk, full fat & canned
● 6 leaves fresh basil, chiffonade
● ½ cup roasted pumpkin seeds

Directions

1. Add first 6 ingredients plus ½ tsp. of salt to your slow cooker. Cook on high (3-4 hours) or on low (6-8 hours). The joy of a slow-cooker is you can add everything right before bed and wake up to a fresh fall-smelling house.
Note: Keep slow cooker away from all flammable items.
2. To a high-powered blender, add everything from the slow-cooker. It will still be hot or warm, so be cautious when pouring.
3. Then add the remaining salt, spices, EVOO and coconut milk.
4. For a chunkier soup, pulse in 5 seconds intervals a few times. For a thinner soup, blend on high for 30 seconds to 1 minute.
5. Top with fresh basil & pumpkin seeds. For more protein, add diced grilled chicken or slow-cooked shredded chicken made ahead of time.
Note: Adding chicken (and using chicken broth) would make this recipe non-vegan.

9. Snack: No-Bake Spiced Energy Balls

Yields: ~25 balls

Ingredients

● 1 ½ cups dry, gluten-free rolled oats
● ¼ cup unsweetened dried cranberries (or tart cherries)
● ¼ cup semi-sweet chocolate mini chips
● ½ cup pumpkin puree*
● ¼ cup raw, unfiltered honey (or maple syrup)
● 1 tsp. vanilla extract
● 1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice*
*If you don’t have pumpkin puree, unsweetened applesauce also works nicely here.
**You can make your own pumpkin pie spice at home if you don’t have it on hand! It’s simply a blend of the following: 3 tbsp. ground cinnamon, 2 tsp. ground ginger, 2 tsp. ground nutmeg, 1 ½ tsp. ground all-spice and 1 ½ tsp. ground cloves.

Directions

1. In a small bowl, mix the dry ingredients: oats, dried cranberries, chocolate chips and spices. In another medium bowl, mix together the wet ingredients: EMCT oil, WAC butter, pumpkin, honey and vanilla. Slowly add the dry mix to the wet mix. Stir until combined. The mixture will be sticky and soft, but you should be able to roll it into 1” balls. Add more oats (slowly) if it’s too sticky.
2. Line a large plate or baking sheet with parchment paper. To facilitate rolling, rub some coconut oil on your palms. Scoop a spoonful into your hands and roll into a ball. Place on plate or sheet. Repeat with remaining dough. The energy balls will firm up in the freezer.
3. Place in freezer for 30 minute to one hour. Store in air-sealed container in fridge for one week, or freezer for a month.

10. Dessert: Cranberry Smoothie

Servings: 4

Ingredients

● 2 oranges
● 1 cup plain Greek yogurt
● 1 1/4 cups frozen cranberries
● 3 tbsp honey
● 1 tbsp fresh lime juice
● 1/2 cup ice cubes
● 1 scoop Grass-Fed Whey Isolate – Vanilla
● 2 tbsp cacao nibs

Directions

1. Cut one orange in half and squeeze juice from the halves to equal 1/4 cup. Peel and section the second orange into segments, removing any seeds. Chop orange segments into smaller cubes.
2. Pour orange juice, orange cubes, yogurt, cranberries, honey, lime juice, ice, protein powder, and cacao nibs in a high-speed blender. Process until well combined and almost smooth. (Add water to thin consistency, if desired.)
3. Divide smoothie into 4 glasses and sprinkle tops evenly with another teaspoon of cacao nibs. Serve immediately.

The post 10 Healthy Fall Food Recipes appeared first on Onnit Academy.

It happens every year. A lean guy or slim girl graduates high school, goes off to college, and comes home on Thanksgiving break looking like Eric Cartman on Weight Gain 4000: “I’m such a beefcake, I can’t even fit through the door.”

South Park jokes aside, bloating up your first year away at school is a legit concern. A study published in Preventive Medicine reveal that 70–77% of college freshmen do gain weight, and largely during their first semester. Hence the fable of the “Freshman 15”—the idea that you’re apt to gain 15 pounds your first year at college.

Fortunately, research shows you probably won’t gain quite that much, but the study did find that the average gain was nearly eight pounds for both men and women. That’s almost one pound per month for the entire school year, and more than enough to have your friends squinting to recognize you when you come home next summer.

If you’re a new freshman who wants to avoid becoming a statistic, this guide to eating, exercising, and surviving dorm life will help you stay lean through your first year of college.

How Should I Eat To Avoid The Freshman 15?

For the past 18 years, you’ve likely been living with your parents. Unless you’re a budding Gordon Ramsay or Ina Garten, the perks probably included your mom or dad’s cooking. You also had some physical activity built into your schedule, whether it was PE class, playing a school sport, or pick-up games with your friends.

That’s all changed now. You’re responsible for getting your own meals, and if you’re not playing college sports (and odds are that you aren’t: only seven percent of high school athletes go on to play anything in college), you’re susceptible to eating badly and getting lazy. This sets you up to eat more calories than you burn, and that means weight gain.

– Create Awareness

“When people are in high school, food intake probably isn’t even on their radar because it doesn’t have to be,” said Brian St. Pierre, R.D., C.S.C.S., Director of Performance Nutrition at Precision Nutrition. “But when they get to college, a decrease in nutritional quality, increase in quantity, and reduction in exercise can start to take its toll quickly. The best way to avoid this is to start being more aware of your meals and snacks, becoming more mindful of your portion sizes, and committing to making positive changes.”

Check this out: A study published in the International Journal of Obesity divided 75 overweight or obese participants into three groups. The first group focused on forming new eating habits, the second on breaking old eating habits, and the third was a control group that wasn’t asked to change anything. Both of the groups that made changes lost a lot more weight than the control group, and they kept losing weight after the study ended, dropping another 10–12 pounds in the 12 months afterward. However, 65% of the participants in each of the groups met the study goal of shedding at least five percent of their initial bodyweight. In other words, even the control group—comprising people who weren’t asked to change a thing—saw improvements.

The lesson is twofold. Small habit changes can yield big results over time, and simply gaining awareness of your habits (such as the control group did by merely participating in a weight-loss study) can yield results by itself. None of the participants had to follow a specific diet to lose weight. They only needed to become more aware of what they were eating, which automatically led to better choices.

Before you try to make drastic changes to your diet, start paying attention to what you’re eating, how much, when you reach for food, and how often you’re hungry. If you notice that you’re gravitating to pizza and cheeseburgers in the dining hall buffet when chicken breast and cauliflower is also being served, the right decisions will begin to become obvious.

– Control Your Portions

There’s no need to geek out counting calories, weighing food, and micromanaging macronutrients to control your weight. And since most of your meals will probably be served to you, as opposed to you preparing them yourself, you really have no way of knowing for sure how they were made and how many calories are in there anyway.

Keep things simple with Precision Nutrition’s “hand” method. It lets you use the size of your hand to estimate portions of foods that are primarily composed of one macronutrient—protein, carbs, or fat. (Vegetables are included as well, but because their calorie and carb-content is usually low, they get their own category.)

Protein: One serving of meat, seafood, dairy products, or eggs is approximately the length, width, and thickness of the palm of your hand.

For men: 2 servings per meal

For women: 1 serving per meal

Vegetables: One serving of broccoli, carrots, spinach, etc.—raw or cooked—is roughly the size of your closed fist.

For men: 2 servings per meal

For women: 1 serving per meal

Carbs: One serving of fruit, starches (like potatoes or rice), whole grains, or bread is what you can fit in your cupped hand.

For men: 2 servings per meal

For women: 1 portion per meal

Fat: One serving of nuts, seeds, healthy oils (such as coconut, olive), butter, etc. is about the length and thickness of your thumb.

For men: 2 portions per meal

For women: 1 portion per meal

Now you have a customized system for gauging your food intake. Bigger people have bigger hands, and therefore get to eat more. Smaller people with smaller hands get smaller portions. Your hands are always with you, unlike a food scale, so you can keep track of everything you eat, every time. What about calorie-counting apps? If you’ll use one, go for it, but there’s no guarantee of their accuracy, and the hand method is more effective for teaching you what healthy portions of food/reasonably-sized meals look like.

Of course, the hand method gets a little complicated if you’re eating processed foods with mixed macros. For instance, your dining hall lasagna has some protein, and lots of carbs and fat. This is why it’s best to stick with whole foods—the ones that are as close to how you’d find them in nature as possible (e.g. chicken breasts or thighs, steak, a bowl of oatmeal, a scoop of almond butter). But when in doubt, serve yourself one portion of whatever you’re about to eat: one square of lasagna, one slice of pizza or cake, one small bowl of chowder, etc. That should keep your intake of processed foods in check.

The hand system is just a starting point anyway. If you find you’re gaining weight with the portions outlined above, simply skip a cupped hand of carbs at one or more meals, and make further adjustments as needed until you’re seeing the results you want.

BONUS TIP: If you start every meal already feeling somewhat full, you’re less likely to overdo it when you sit down to eat. This is why some dieticians recommend drinking a 16-ounce glass of water before breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The body can’t really tell the difference between satiety that comes from liquids or solids (at least initially), so pounding water can tell your brain that your stomach is fuller than it actually is, helping regulate how much you eat.

Water too boring for you? You may get an even greater effect from a protein shake. Protein is the most satiating macronutrient (compared to carbs and fat), and burns the most calories just to digest it, which is why nutritionists often recommend increasing protein intake for weight loss. A 2013 study in the British Journal of Nutrition found that a thick and creamy protein drink heightens your perception of its protein content, which helps promote the sensation of fullness even further.

For a guide to the benefits of whey protein, go HERE.

– Try Fasting

Pop quiz, college kid: what’s the easiest way to not get fat?

The obvious answer, of course, is simply to not eat. Research shows that intermittent fasting, in which you go certain periods of time without food, has numerous health benefits, including weight loss, improved blood pressure, and even alleviated symptoms of conditions like asthma. Fasting is not appropriate for people who are already underweight or have hormonal problems, but for a healthy college student, it may be the most convenient way to stay lean and get good grades.

When you don’t eat for a while, you trick your body into thinking it’s going to starve. Years of evolution have hard-wired your system to ramp up several processes that help the body become more efficient. Insulin levels drop and growth hormone is released, helping you burn more fat. Your cells begin repairing themselves, and your brain becomes laser-focused—a sign that your body is entering fight-or-flight mode so that you can be an alert hunter.

People who fast report being able to think more clearly and concentrate better on work and other tasks. This could be due to avoiding blood sugar crashes (which are responsible for the energy lulls you feel after big, carb-heavy meals), but it may also be connected to increased production of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a protein that boosts the resistance of the brain’s nerve cells to dysfunction and degeneration.

To start experimenting with fasting, simply skip breakfast in the morning. If you stop eating around 9:00 p.m. the night before and make lunch your first meal of the day at 1:00 p.m, you’ve completed a 16-hour fast—one of the most popular fasting methods and one that most people find easy to stick with. You’re welcome to drink water and/or black coffee during your fast to control hunger (and to help ensure you don’t overeat when you do sit down to a meal).

You don’t have to do intermittent fasting every day. The 17-Hour Fast, by Dr. Frank Merritt, explains that once per week is enough to see some benefit, but as you get more comfortable with the process, you could fast daily and for longer periods.

Try to get your roommate or a friend to fast with you. Your adherence will be better if you have support, and the two of you can compare notes to tweak your fasting approaches and get the most out of it. For a beginner’s guide to intermittent fasting, go HERE.

[Editor’s note: All of the above strategies are low-effort ways to help keep your weight under control. If you want to know more about how to diet for maximum health, performance, or ripped abs, check out our guides to caveman nutrition and keto for starters.]

How Should I Work Out to Avoid The Freshman 15?

Many people think that the only reason to lift weights is to get big and strong, but it’s actually the best way to get leaner. Gaining muscle increases your metabolism 24/7, so you’ll burn extra calories just sitting around in your dorm room.

Not into getting “jacked?” That’s fine. Hitting the weights three days a week is more than enough for you to see dramatic results without anyone confusing you for a bodybuilder (and if you’re a lady, it won’t make you look any less feminine).

A paper published in the European Journal of Applied Physiology found that the following three training methods were equally effective for achieving muscle growth on virtually any exercise you choose to do.

• 3–5 sets of 6–15 repetitions

• 3–5 sets of 10–20 reps

• 3–5 sets of 6–12 reps

Follow one or all of the methods each time you train. Three, non-consecutive, full-body workouts per week is ideal. So you could use method 1 on Monday, 2 on Wednesday, and 3 on Friday. Use the heaviest loads that allow you to complete the number of repetitions called for with good form (any number within the given range is OK). While your training should be challenging, it must also be safe, so stop your sets one to two reps short of the maximum amount you can do with the given weight. For instance, if you’re aiming to do a set of 10–12 reps, and the 10th feels so tough that you think your form would break down if you kept going for 11 or 12, stop the set there.

Change your exercises often. You’ll get the most bang for your muscle-building buck if you focus on compound lifts—those that work multiple joints at once and activate the most muscle. Most of your exercises should come from the following list:

• Deadlift variations (including conventional deadlifts, Romanian deadlifts, trap-bar deadlifts, stiff-legged deadlifts, etc.)
• Squat variations (including back squats, front squats, goblet squats, etc.)
• Bench press (barbell or dumbbell, incline or flat)
• Row (barbell, dumbbell, cable, or band)
• Chinup (or pullup, lat pulldown)
• Overhead press (seated or standing, one arm or two arms)
• Kettlebell swing
• Split squat
• Reverse lunge

A great full-body workout can consist of only three exercises: some kind of pushing movement, a pulling movement, and a lower-body exercise. For example, a dumbbell bench press (pushing), a cable row (pulling), and a kettlebell goblet squat (legs).

For a complete guide to muscle building, see this article. Of course, if your college doesn’t have a good gym, you can also see great results with bodyweight training. Onnit offers a six-week body transformation program—Onnit 6—that you can do in your dorm room with no equipment (eating plans and mindset strategies, and more, are also included). For all the details about Onnit 6, go HERE.

– Cardio

Remember when your parents wanted to lose a few pounds, and they started taking hour-long jogs through the neighborhood?

Suckers.

Research has shown that high-intensity interval training (HIIT)—where you work really hard for a short burst and then coast or rest briefly—is much more time-efficient for both cardiovascular health and fat loss. HIIT workouts usually last 20–30 minutes, and sometimes can be much shorter. One study in the European Journal of Applied Physiology had subjects alternate 10–20-second bouts of all-out cycling on a stationary bike with a few minutes rest for 10 minutes. They did only ONE MINUTE of total work, three days per week. After six weeks, their markers of aerobic capacity had significantly improved.

Meanwhile, a review of HIIT studies in the Journal of Obesity concluded that interval training can burn fat during and after exercise (as the result of an elevated metabolic rate), as well as help to suppress appetite. The authors wrote, “Given that the major reason given for not exercising is time, it is likely that the brevity of [HIIT] protocols should be appealing to most individuals interested in fat reduction.”

Use HIIT 1–3 times per week. Try the following HIIT workouts, which can be done on a treadmill, exercise bike, rower, or on a track outside. Be sure to take five minutes to warm up beforehand.

• Sprint/cycle/row etc. at the fastest pace you can maintain for 1 minute. Rest 1 minute, and repeat for 10 rounds.
  
• Sprint/cycle/row etc. for 2 minutes. Rest 2 minutes, and repeat for 6 rounds.
• Row 500 meters and then rest 3 minutes and 30 seconds. Repeat for 8 rounds.

– Just Move

Exercise is awesome, but staying lean is a lifestyle that requires habits you keep outside the gym. Make an effort to simply move more throughout your day. This can include playing pickup games with friends, joining a rec league team, or merely walking as much as possible. Get in the habit of walking to classes that you’d normally drive to. As reported in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, taking a regular stroll can offer profound benefits. Researchers found a 24% reduction in the subjects’ risk of dying from cardiovascular disease, and a 20% reduction in all-cause mortality.

Another easy way to improve your health and avoid weight gain is to stop sitting so damn much. When you’re on a bus or train, give up your seat. When you call your parents or friends, pace around your room rather than lie on your bed. Also, consider getting a standing desk. Companies like Ergodriven offer options for as little as $25.

Check out this website to calculate just how much time you spend sitting each day, and figure out how many extra calories you could burn by choosing to stand or move instead.

How Much Can I Drink and Still Avoid The Freshman 15?

If we told you not to drink at all, we’re pretty sure the sound of laptops and iPhones simultaneously clicking away from this website would be so loud they’d hear it in space. No one is naïve enough to think you won’t booze at college, but we encourage you to do it sparingly (especially since, you know, you’re under 21 and all).

The fact is, you can’t burn body fat when you have alcohol in your system. Recognizing alcohol as a poison, your body’s first priority is to metabolize it, and any other foods you take in around the time you’re drinking will get stored as fat until the alcohol is cleared.

On top of that, alcohol is inherently a gut bomb. Whisky, vodka, and other hard liquors pack 80–100 (nutrition-less) calories per serving, and wine coolers, beer, and spirits with soda mixers (e.g. rum and Coke) contain a boatload of sugar —up to 30, 35, and 50 grams, respectively.

The lower-calorie hard liquors and dry wines are your best bet. But, on the off chance they don’t serve Cabernet at your next keg party, at least try to opt for light (low-carb) beers. Stay the hell away from cocktails made with syrup or soda, IPAs, and exotic party drinks. Margaritas, pina coladas, and Long Island Ice Teas can verge on 1,000 calories.

For more details on fitting booze into a diet plan, see our guide HERE.

How Can I Sleep Better At College?

We know campus life is all about pulling all-nighters and never-ending parties, but getting adequate rest is as important to your waistline as it is to your grade-point average. A study in the Annals of Internal Medicine showed that when dieters got adequate sleep, more than half of the weight they lost was body fat. When they lost sleep, however, only one quarter of their weight loss was fat (the rest was lean body mass, including muscle). Lack of sleep also made the subjects hungrier.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend that college-aged individuals get between seven and 10 hours of sleep per 24-hour period. If that seems impossible, follow the suggestions in our guide to sleeping better HERE.

For an all-in-one guide to exercise, nutrition, sleep, sex (yes, sex!), and overall better living—to get the most out of your college years and life beyond—check out Onnit founder Aubrey Marcus’ book, Own The Day, a New York Times best-seller.

The post A College Student’s Guide To Avoiding The Freshman 15 appeared first on Onnit Academy.

What are the Benefits of a Healthy Italian Diet?

While Italians include bread, cheese, and pasta in their diet, they manage to stay lean and healthy. How so? The Mediterranean Diet, which is essentially the Italian cuisine, is rich in plant foods, heart-healthy fats, whole grains, and fish, compared to the Western Diet which is heavier in red meat and processed foods and sugar.

The health benefits of a Mediterranean-style diet is nothing new. It has been shown to lower inflammation, oxidative stress, and reduce the risk of heart disease. The quality and sourcing of food also plays a role. Local, seasonal, and freshly prepared whole foods are always the way to go.

Another thing to consider about Italian food is portion size and preparation. Go to most Italian restaurants in the states, and the portions are often double the size of that in Italy. If you can’t find an authentic Italian chef using only fresh ingredients in your neck of the woods, then we suggest you turn on your best Emeril Lagasse impression, and BAM! Cook your favorite healthy Italian dish at home. We’ve included some delicious ideas as a great starting point below.

What Foods Can I Eat, What Are Foods to Avoid, What’s Good for Snacking?

FOODS TO EAT

PROTEIN

• Fish
  • Examples include: salmon, Black Bass, Branzino (Mediterranean sea bass)
• Shellfish
  • Examples include: shrimp, mussels, lobster, octopus, scallops, clams and oysters
• Poultry, in moderation
• Eggs, in moderation
• Red meat, rare occasions

CARBOHYDRATES

• Vegetables
  • Fresh vegetables and fruits are plentiful in a healthy Italian diet
• Fruit
  • Specifically fresh berries, which are lower in sugar by volume as compared to tropical fruits like pineapple and mango. 
• Legumes and beans
  • Examples include: Cannellini beans, chickpeas, lentils, and hummus 
• Whole grain and sourdough bread*
• Fresh-prepared authentic pasta, in moderation 
  • You are more likely to find this in Italy than in the U.S. Store-bought pasta tends to be more processed to sustain shelf-life. 
• Pasta alternatives; i.e. chickpea pea pasta, nonGMO edamame pasta, kelp noodles, zucchini or sweet potato noodles (you can buy a Spiralizer on Amazon for cheap and make your own at home. 
• Whole grains and rice
  • Examples include: white and brown rice, quinoa, bulgur, farro 
• Vegetable starches
  • Examples, potatoes, and corn 
• Full-fat, plain, unsweetened yogurt 
• Wine, in moderation
  • One glass for women; two for men 

*The live bacteria in the starter helps pre-digest the gluten and consume some of the carbohydrates prior to baking, yielding a bread that is easier on the digestive tract, with lower carbohydrates compared to standard white bread.

FAT

• Raw cheese** and minimally processed fresh cheese
  • Examples include: Parmigiano Reggiano, Mozzarella, Burrata 
• Olives and olive oil
• Nuts and seeds
• Avocado

**contains natural probiotics.

MISC.

• Fresh herbs and spices 
  • Italians often use fresh herbs and spices in their dishes to add depth and flavor without using a lot of caloric-dense additives or fats.
• Water 
  • A healthy Italian diet includes plenty of water; at least 8 glasses a day

FOODS TO AVOID COMPLETELY

• Refined grains; i.e. overly processed white bread, store-bought pasta 
• Refined or hydrogenated oils and fats; i.e. soybean oil, canola oil, peanut oil, margarine
• Processed sugar; i.e. sodas, juice from concentrate, candy
• Processed meat; i.e. hotdogs, bologna, pre-packaged deli meat
• Excessive eating

BEST SNACKS

• Fresh, local multigrain or sourdough served with extra virgin olive oil, fresh herbs, and olives
• Fresh fruit and raw, organic nuts
• Caprese salad: fresh tomatoes, mozzarella, basil, and extra virgin olive oil
• Plain, unsweetened yogurt with raw honey and fresh fruit
• Antipasto: fresh olives, raw cheeses, anchovies, and cured meat
• Light salad with extra virgin olive, balsamic vinegar, and fresh fish 
• Raw cheese, nuts, and sliced cucumbers 
• Lentil salad

10 Healthy Italian Recipes That Won’t Pack on the Pounds

BREAKFAST: Zucchini and Herb Frittata 

Frittata comes from the Italian verb “friggere” which means to fry.

Cook time: 25 minutes 
Yield: 4 servings 
Difficulty: Easy

INGREDIENTS

• 2 large zucchini 
• ½ yellow onion, finely diced
• 8 large pastured-eggs 
• ½ cup freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese 
• ½ cup full-fat Greek or Icelandic plain yogurt
• ½ tsp. garlic powder
• Sea salt and pepper, to taste
• Fresh dill sprigs 
• Fresh Italian parsley 
• 2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil 

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. 
2. Heat olive oil in a 9-inch cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion, and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes. Add zucchini and cook, stirring often, until tender and edges golden brown, 8 to 10 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, whisk eggs, yogurt, cheese, garlic powder, salt, and pepper in a large bowl. Pour evenly over sauteed zucchini and onions. Don’t stir. Let cook until eggs begin to set, about one minute.
4. Place skillet in the oven, and cook until edges are set about 5 minutes. Then increase the temperature to broil and cook for an additional 2 minutes until the top is golden brown.
5. Remove from oven, sprinkle with a couple of tablespoons of cheese and fresh chopped parsley and fresh dill. Season with additional salt and pepper if desired. 

LUNCH: Gluten-Free Prosciutto, Fig, and Arugula Flatbread

Cook time: 25 minutes 
Yield: 4 servings 
Difficulty: Easy

INGREDIENTS

1 cup shredded mozzarella
½ cup shredded parmesan and asiago
1 cup fresh arugula 
⅓ cup low-sugar fig spread*
10 slices prosciutto
1 box Simple Mills Gluten-Free Pizza Dough Mix**
2 tbsp. apple cider vinegar 
2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil, plus 1 tbsp. for drizzling
6 tbsp. water 

*I love the FiordiFrutta USDA Organic fruit spreads sweetened only with fruit sugar. 

**I love this pizza dough mix for ease of use, quality of ingredients, and most importantly, taste! It’s made out of eight simple ingredients: almond flour, arrowroot, flax meal, cauliflower baking soda, organic oregano, cream of tartar, and organic garlic.

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350-degrees Fahrenheit. 
2. In a large mixing bowl, add the pizza dough mix, apple cider vinegar, olive oil, and water. Mix until thoroughly combined and dough is formed. 
3. Divide dough into two equal portions, and roll into balls. Using clean oiled hands, carefully form into a flatbread or circular pizza shape with raised edges, based on preference. Repeat with second dough 
4. Bake flatbreads on an oiled sheet pan for five minutes. Remove from oven. On each flatbread, add ½ the fig spread and evenly distribute. Then sprinkle the mozzarella, parmesan, and asiago shredded cheese on top.
5. Bake for an additional 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from oven and add the prosciutto, arugula, and drizzle a little extra extra virgin olive oil on top! Enjoy warm. 

ANTIPASTO: Summer Pesto Caprese Salad 

Prep time: 20 minutes 
Yield: 6-8 servings 
Difficulty: Easy

INGREDIENTS

2 fresh peaches 
3 heirloom tomatoes
1 lb. fresh mozzarella 
2 cups fresh basil leaves
½ cup extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
3 garlic cloves
¼ cup Parmigiano Reggiano
3 tbsp. white balsamic vinegar 
Sea salt, to taste 
Black pepper, to taste

INSTRUCTIONS

1. In a food processor, add the fresh basil, EVOO, white balsamic, garlic cloves, Parmigiano Reggiano, salt, and pepper to taste. Pulse until combined.
2. Clean and slice the peaches and tomatoes into quarters.
3. Slice the mozzarella into a similar size and shape. 
4. On a serving platter, alternate the tomato slice, mozzarella, and peach, stacking them on top of the corner of the other. However, you can arrange whatever suits your fancy!
5. Carefully spoon pesto over the arrangement. Serve immediately.

DINNER: Lemon Butter Branzino served with Shiitake Risotto 

Cook Time: 50 minutes 
Yield: 4-6 servings 
Difficulty: Easy

INGREDIENTS

4 whole Branzino*, or white fish of choice
2 lemons
4 tbsp. grass-fed butter, divided
1 bunch fresh thyme sprigs
Sea salt and pepper, to taste
Extra virgin olive oil
2 shallots, minced
3 cups chicken broth**
1 cup arborio or medium-grain rice 
⅓ cup marsala wine
1 lb. shiitake mushrooms stemmed and thinly sliced
½ cup Parmigiano Reggiano, freshly grated

*Scaled and gutted
**from USDA Organic pasture-raised chickens ideally.

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 450-degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Bring 6 cups of chicken or vegetable broth to a simmer.
3. In a large saucepan over medium heat, add 2 tbsp. butter and 1 tbsp. EVOO. Once melted, add shallots, and cook until translucent. Then add in the mushrooms. Cook for five to eight minutes, stirring occasionally, until softened.
4. Meanwhile, pat fish dry. Drizzle EVOO and season with salt and pepper on skin and in cavity. Stuff with thyme sprigs, a couple of lemon slices, and 2 tbsp. grass-fed butter divided into ¼ tsp. to evenly distribute among fish. Transfer fish to 2 rimmed baking sheets lined with wire racks. Roast for approximately 20 minutes.
5. While fish is cooking, add the rice, marsala wine, and leaves from 2 sprigs of thyme. Stir to combine with shallots and mushrooms.
6. When the liquid is absorbed, add ½ cup of warmed chicken broth to mixture and stir. Increase heat to medium-high, and continue adding ½ cup of broth, allowing the liquid to be fully absorbed before adding more broth. You should be stirring frequently. Continue with all of the remaining broth until the rice is tender and the mixture is creamy. Remove from heat, stir in Parmigiano Reggiano. Garnish with additional thyme leaves if desired. Serve immediately with fish.

DESSERT: Panna Cotta with Blueberry Sauce

Panna Cotta is Italian for “cooked cream.” Traditionally, this Italian dessert is made with heavy cream, but for this recipe, we’re using a non-dairy alternative, coconut milk, as a base and raw honey as a natural sweetener.

Cook Time: 10 minutes 
Set Time: 4 hours to overnight in fridge
Yield: 6 servings 
Difficulty: Easy

INGREDIENTS

(2) 13.5-oz can full-fat coconut milk
¼ cup raw, unfiltered honey 
1 vanilla bean*
4 tsp. gelatin**
2 tsp. water 
Coconut oil

Blueberry sauce

1 cup organic blueberries
2 tbsp. fresh-squeezed orange juice 
1 tsp. orange zest
1 tbsp. Honey or sugar substitute of choice
¼ tsp. cornstarch
¼ tsp. vanilla extract 
Pinch salt, to taste

*Slice down the center lengthwise to expose the vanilla bean caviar. Carefully run your knife perpendicular to the bean and slide down to scrape out the vanilla bean caviar. This is where the flavor is concentrated.

**We love Vital Proteins’ gelatin from pastured cows.

INSTRUCTIONS

1. In a small bowl, combine the water and gelatin. Let it sit for five minutes.
2. Meanwhile, in a small pot on medium-low heat, add the coconut milk, honey, and vanilla bean caviar. Whisk together. You can also add the full vanilla bean for extra flavor and discard before pouring into molds or ramekins. Bring to a simmer, then add in the gelatin water. Whisk until the gelatin is fully dissolved.
3. Lightly grease a small ramekin or mold with coconut oil to prevent sticking to the sides. Coconut oil is the best choice here because of its sweet flavor profile.
4. Pour mixture evenly into 6 mini bowls or molds. Place in fridge to set for four hours or overnight.
5. Add all ingredients for the blueberry sauce in a small pot on medium-low heat. Stir and cook until blueberries start to breakdown, and it the mixture thickens slightly about five minutes.
6. Remove the panna cotta molds from the fridge. Run a knife around each edge and set in a bowl of warm water to loosen the edges. Invert mold onto serving plate. With blueberry sauce on top, and serve.

The Ultimate Healthy Italian Meal Plan

DAY 1

Breakfast: Muesli with unsweetened dried fruit & milk
Lunch: Grilled salmon served over spinach sauteed in garlic, EVOO, and lemon
Dinner: Bison Marinara over Zucchini Noodles
Snack: dry roasted almonds and an apple 

DAY 2

Breakfast: Vegetable omelet with fresh sourdough bread
Lunch: Lentil soup with a side salad
Dinner: Homemade Pesto Kelp Noodles
Snack: olives, feta cheese, fresh sliced cucumber and tomatoes 

DAY 3

Breakfast: Full-fat Greek yogurt with fresh berries and crushed walnuts 
Lunch: Seared scallops served with grilled vegetables 
Dinner: Turkey-Stuffed Peppers
Snack: Antipasto

DAY 4

Breakfast: Oatmeal porridge with unsweetened milk of choice and 2-4 soft boiled eggs
Lunch: Garlic Butter Shrimp over Zucchini Noodles
Dinner: Cauliflower-crust veggie pizza 
Snack: Greek yogurt and fresh fruit 

DAY 5

Breakfast: Shakshuka*
Lunch: Homemade tuna salad served on whole grain or sourdough bread 
Dinner: Chicken Paillard Snack: Cheesy Cauliflower “Breadsticks”

The post 10 Healthy Italian Recipes That Won’t Pack on the Pounds appeared first on Onnit Academy.

We think Eric Leija is one of our best representatives. Yes, he’s one of the fittest people we’ve ever seen, and a great poster boy for the whey protein and kettlebells we sell, but he’s also humble, good-natured, and a fine example of what Onnit is really all about—improving every aspect of your life by not neglecting any aspect of it.

You can read about how the man known as Primal Swoledier on Instagram (and Onnit Gym’s kettlebell coach) came to be HERE. And if you want to get an idea of how he got the body of a superhero, take a gander at the sample workout he provides below. As in his life outside the gym, Leija is open-minded when it comes to training, combining elements of old-school strength work with kettlebells, bodyweight conditioning, and mobility. The result is a body that looks great, moves better, is resistant to injury, and can do anything he demands of it on a moment’s notice.

The Primal Swoledier Workout

The following is an example of the kind of strength training Leija does himself and prescribes to clients. Alternate sets of the first two exercises (1A and 1B), and then go on to the kettlebell circuit (directions below). After that, you’ll finish the workout with an EMOM (directions below).

1A Squat

Sets: 5  Reps: 5

Step 1. Set up in a squat rack and grasp the bar with your hands as far apart as is comfortable. Step under the rack and squeeze your shoulder blades together and down, wedging yourself under the bar so that it rests on your traps or the back of your shoulders.

Step 2. Nudge the bar out of the rack and step back, setting your feet between hip and shoulder-width with your toes turned slightly outward. Without letting your feet actually move, try to screw both legs into the floor as if you were standing on grass and wanted to twist it up—you’ll feel your glutes tighten and the arches in your feet rise.

Step 3. Pull your ribs down and take a deep breath into your belly and brace your core. Your head, spine, and pelvis should form a long line—your pelvis should also be perpendicular to your spine, and not tilted toward the floor. Focus your eyes on a point straight in front of you.

Step 4. Bend your hips back as if you were going to sit in a chair, continuing to screw your feet down. Allow your knees to bend and push them out as you lower your body down. Go as low as you can while keeping your alignment. Ideally, you’ll be able to descend to where the crease of your hips is below the top of your thighs.

Your knees must stay in line with your toes. Trying to push them out and actively root your feet into the ground will all but ensure this.

Step 5. Extend your hips and knees to return to standing, pushing through the middle of your feet and squeezing your glutes.

1B Scap Pullup

Sets: 5  Reps: 8–10

Step 1. Hang from a pullup bar with hands outside shoulder width.

Step 2. Draw your shoulder blades down and together to pull your body up closer to the bar—but don’t bend your elbows. Think of the movement as a reverse shrug. You’re just using your upper back muscles to rise up.

Kettlebell Circuit

Set a timer for 15 minutes. Perform the exercises as a circuit, completing one set of each in sequence, and rest as little as possible between moves. Complete as many rounds of the circuit as you can before time runs out.

A Push Press

Reps: 10 (each side)

Step 1. Hold a kettlebell in one hand at shoulder level, and reach your other arm out 90 degrees to help you maintain balance. Stand with feet about hip width and brace your core.

Step 2. Drop into a quarter-squat, initiating the descent by bending your knees and flexing your hips back slightly. Keep your head, spine, and pelvis in line so your back is flat and your eyes and head are forward. You don’t want to turn this leg drive portion of the lift into a squat, so only bend your knees enough to get some momentum, and don’t hinge your hips too much. Imagine yourself doing the move against a wall and sliding your torso up and down it—you should be upright.

Step 3. As soon as you’ve dipped, extend your hips and knees explosively to stand up straight, driving through your heels, and simultaneously press the weight straight overhead. Complete your reps on that side, and then switch sides and repeat.

B Hanging Leg Raise

Reps: As many as possible

Step 1. Hang from a chinup bar. Your palms can face forward or each other, if the bar allows. Tuck your tailbone under and pull your legs together to create tension.

Step 2. Raise your legs as high as you can, allowing your torso to tilt backward as they rise. If that’s too hard, raise your legs to 90 degrees only.

C Pullup

Reps: 5

Step 1. Hang from a pullup bar with hands outside shoulder width.

Step 2. Draw your shoulder blades back and together as you pull your body up until your chin is over the bar.

D Kettlebell Swing

Reps: 15

Step 1. Stand behind a kettlebell with feet shoulder-width apart. Pull your shoulder blades back together and downward and, keeping a long spine, bend your hips back until you can grasp the kettlebell handle.

Step 2. Lift the weight off the floor and hike it back between your legs. Keep your long spine position—your head, back, and hips should all be in a straight line.

Step 3. When you feel a stretch in your glutes, squeeze them and extend your hips explosively, so that the power in your hips drives the weight up in front of you. Allow your arms to let the weight extend to arms’ length and face height. Then reverse the motion.

Finisher

Start a stopwatch. Perform 10 reps of the goblet squat, every minute on the minute, for 5 minutes. So, when the clock says 0:00, you’ll begin your first set. However much time is left between when you’ve finished 10 reps and the top of the next minute (1:00) is your rest period.

Goblet Squat

Step 1. Stand with feet shoulder-width apart. Hold a single dumbbell at your chest with both hands, just underneath your chin. Your shoulders should be back and down—proud-chest position.

Step 2. Brace your core. Keeping a long spine from your head to your pelvis, sit back and spread your knees apart to squat down as deeply as you can without losing alignment.

Step 3. Squeeze your glutes as you come back up to standing.

The Primal Swoledier Diet

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@francheskafit favorite tacos 🔥🔥🔥 . #tacos #suiza #cheesepull . DM for details. Not tagging so it won’t get more blown up than it already is 😂

A post shared by Eric Leija (@primal.swoledier) on May 30, 2019 at 1:15pm PDT

Breakfast

Homemade chia pudding made with coconut milk, chia seeds, protein powder, blueberries, and bee pollen

Pre-Workout

Total Strength and Performance and ShroomTech Sport

[Workout #1]

Post-Workout Shake

Protein powder mixed with water and ½ banana

Snack

Apple or protein bar

Lunch

Tuna salad made with 2 cans tuna fish seasoned with salsa and ½ avocado

1 handful raw nuts

[Workout #2, Leija runs in the afternoon]

Post-Workout Shake

Protein powder mixed with water and ½ banana

Dinner

Fish or chicken with stir-fried vegetables and rice, cooked in avocado oil

Leija avoids adding salt to meals so that he won’t retain excess water—he wants to stay as lean as possible to shoot his Instagram videos.

Leija’ Post-Workout Slushy

On very hot days, he’ll make a slushy with several Onnit products and eat it after workouts to keep his energy up. Here’s the recipe:

Juice of 1 whole lemon

2 scoops Total Strength and Performance

1 serving Glutamine

1 serving Joint Oil

Blend all the ingredients with ice cubes to a slushy consistency.

Visit Leija at ericleija.com, and follow him on Instagram, @primal.swoledier.

The post The Primal Swoledier Workout and Diet appeared first on Onnit Academy.

It takes serious superhuman willpower to avoid caving during Girl Scout Cookie season. You’ve seen them on the local news. You’re very much aware that it’s that time of the year.

And although you have mentally prepared yourself to just say, “No”, you get lost in the moment as soon as you hear that high-pitched voice asking, “Do you want to buy some cookies?”

Immediately your self control flies out the window and all you can think of is why buying one box – just one – is a great idea:

1. It’s for a good cause.
2. It’s a seasonal item only available eight weeks each year!
3. Those little girls are damn good sales people.

So naturally, it seems like a brilliant idea – especially when you’re leaving the grocery store exhausted and starving after a long day at work and those cute little faces easily twist your arm. Strategy.

Everything is fun and games until you accidentally read the side of one of those bright-colored boxes. Take one second to scan the ingredient label, and you will soon realize that it’s not just an innocent coconut-caramel-chocolate delight.

In reality, it’s a potent combination of sugar, chemicals and strategically hidden trans fat.

Sure, one cookie won’t kill you. But it’s definitely not going to help you. Three Samoas cookies pack 15 grams of sugar, which happens to be the first ingredient. With little to no nutritional benefit, processed sugar is arguably your worst enemy.

It increases your body’s insulin resistance, the prevalence of childhood obesity and the risk for heart disease and type 2 diabetes, to name a few. More evidence is pointing to sugar consumption as one of the main culprits of adverse health conditions.

But let’s not focus on the negative. Life is meant to be enjoyed (delicious food and chocolate included). So we set out to transform that mouth-watering chocolatey-coconut goodness into a nutrient-dense, protein-packed smoothie bowl that will be sure to curb those sweet-tooth cravings with our Samoa Smoothie Bowl.

The Samoa Smoothie Bowl is packed full of a variety of superfoods, so before we get into the recipe let’s look at a few of the ingredients that pack a powerful punch.

Hemp Protein

Hemp is often a staple in the vegan diet because it’s one of the few plant sources of a complete protein; it contains all nine essential amino acids – the building blocks of protein – that the body cannot produce on its own.

Naturally gluten free and lactose free, hemp protein is one of the best supplement choices for strict diets.

It also does not contain any oligosaccharide or trypsin inhibitors, both of which can affect ease of digestion. It’s safe to say, hemp protein will have you waving goodbye to belly bloat and other gnarly smelly odors post-consumption.

Plus, the water-insoluble fiber content promotes healthy and regular bowel movements. So, it’s a win-win.

Although it’s not as protein dense as alternatives like soy and whey, hemp is more readily digested and absorbed by the body because it is predominantly composed of globulin edestrin, which is similar to one that is found in human blood.

Need more convincing? An alkaline-forming food, hemp promotes a balanced pH, it’s grown naturally and sustainably without the need of pesticides or herbicides and it’s an excellent source of omega-3 and -6 fatty acids, vitamins, minerals and antioxidants.

Chia Seeds

A 90’s infomercial turned nutrient powerhouse, the chia seed has come a long way since growing plant afros on clay animal figurines. It has been dubbed a “superfood,” weight loss supplement and beneficial treatment for gastrointestinal disorders.

Despite its recent popularity in the media, chia seeds have been prized for thousands of years dating back to the Mayan and Aztec empires. “Chia” is the Mayan word for strength. And it’s clear why. The health benefits are innumerable.

This high-fiber food slows down digestion allowing your body to absorb more nutrients and helps maintain balanced blood sugar levels, which is particularly beneficial for people with type 2 diabetes. Containing more omega-3 than salmon, sardines and flaxseed, chia has been shown to decrease low-density lipoprotein (LDL a.k.a. the bad) cholesterol levels, blood pressure and improve metabolic functions.

One of the most unique attributes of this tiny black seed is its ability to form a gelatinous substance called hydrophilic colloid when it comes in contact with liquid, which helps maintain the integrity and health of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract.

Chia seeds can absorb more than 12 times their weight in water. This helps keep your cells hydrated, maintain electrolyte balance and makes you feel full by literally expanding in your stomach. However, take note: do not consume too much in one sitting.

The ensuing stomach ache is not worth it, peeps. Just take my word for it.

Cacao

Commonly confused with cocoa, cacao is the less-processed version with a slightly different spelling.

Cacao, in its unprocessed state, contains more than 300 phytochemicals, and has some incredible health benefits. Most notably, it is one of the richest dietary sources of phenolic antioxidants and magnesium.

Research has shown that cacao can reduce the risk of diabetes by increasing insulin resistance, protect nerves from injury and inflammation, protect the skin from oxidative damage from UV radiation and has shown positive effects on satiety, cognitive function and mood.

Chill, bro. Before you go reaching for that Snicker’s bar, it’s important to know most processed chocolate candy bars contain only 10 percent or less cacao because of the added sugar, milk solids and additives.

The amount and integrity of the phytochemicals greatly decrease during manufacturing, exposure to oxygen and alkalinization. At the mainstream candy bar level, the health risks, like weight gain and blood sugar spikes, outweigh the intrinsic benefits of cacao.

Our advice: Reach for chocolate that is at least 65% cacao or higher when those cravings kick in. Or better yet, throw 100% cacao powder or nibs and add fruit or a natural sweetener like stevia in your next sweet treat to turn down the bitterness and reap the most nutritional benefits.

Coconut

Coconut is one of the most versatile fruits with incredible nutritional benefits. Anything that you can use for cooking, eating and beautifying is OK in my book.

Walk through the the supermarket and you’ll see coconut derivatives everywhere: coconut oil, coconut sugar, coconut butter, coconut milk, coconut flour, coconut water, coconut creamer, coconut-based shampoo; the list goes on.

Coconut water is a great option for a natural, dye-free sports drink as it contains more minerals and electrolytes than mainstream brands. Just one cup of coconut water delivers 10 percent of your daily recommendation for potassium.

For optimal post-workout hydration, add Himalayan salt to your not-from-concentrate coconut water.

Research has shown that sodium-enriched fresh young coconut water is as effective as commercial sports drinks for rehydration post-exercise with reportings of less upset stomach and greater quantity consumed.

Best part: There’s no extreme sugar spike and subsequent crash. Coconut milk and creamer are also great alternatives for coffee, smoothies and protein shakes for those who are lactose intolerant, vegan or Paleo.

In terms of food, coconut flakes, meat, butter, oil and flour are all fantastic for adding flavor, fiber and texture to meals and snacks.

Naturally gluten free, coconut-food derivatives offer nutrient-rich thickening agents and can withstand medium-heat temperatures.

The oil in coconuts contains Medium-Chain Triglycerides (MCTs), which are utilized by the body for quick energy production, are rapidly metabolized and help stabilize blood sugar levels.

We recommend using an unrefined, cold-pressed coconut oil for cooking. Lather a little in your hair and skin while you’re at it and supplement with MCT oil in your next protein shake for improved cognitive function.

Despite the favorable research, this subtly sweet fruit has caused its fair share of debate among health experts.

Sure, it’s a naturally high-fat food with 87-percent saturated fat, but coconut consumption has been shown to increase high-density lipoprotein (HDL a.k.a. the good) cholesterol levels, which is ideal.

Some experts have cautioned people with hypertension and cardiovascular issues to limit coconut intake, but other that, definitely go for it. Your hair, skin, body and brain will thank you for it.

Himalayan Salt

Naturally acquired pink Himalayan salt is packed with 84 essential trace minerals and electrolytes and plays a valuable role in the regulation of multiple bodily processes.

Himalayan salt is made of the same components as table salt, but since the crystal structure is larger than refined salt, it has LESS sodium per 1/4 t. serving.

Pink Himalayan Salt does not have that harsh, stinging bite which allows you to utilize it much more effectively as both a spice and to supplement food.

There is perhaps no simpler way to get the 84 trace minerals valuable to the body that mother nature has produced than to include real pink himalayan salt in your diet.

Recipe

● Yields: 1 bowl
● Cook time: 5 minutes

Ingredients for Bowl

● 3 dried pitted dates
● 1 packet (2 oz.) 100% fresh young coconut (frozen)
● 6 oz. unsweetened coconut milk*
● 2 scoops (26g) ONNIT PowerFOOD Active
● ½ tbsp. ONNIT coconut oil
● 3 tbsp. toasted coconut flakes
● 1 tbsp. cacao nibs
● 1 tbsp. oats
● 1 tbsp. chia seeds
● 1 frozen banana
● 1 pinch of ONNIT Himalayan salt
● 7-8 ice cubes

Ingredients for Toppings

● 1 tbsp. toasted coconut
● 1 tbsp. cacao nibs
● 1 tbsp. oats
● 1 tbsp. chia seeds
*any unsweetened non-dairy milk works fine.

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Place 4 tbsp. of coconut flakes on a baking sheet and bake for three to four minutes until the edges are light brown. Set aside 3 tbsp. for the bowl and 1 tbsp. for the topping.

2. Add all ingredients for the bowl into a blender. Pulse for approximately 90 seconds until thick and creamy. You may have to spoon the sides in between pulsing.

3. Finish with toasted coconut flakes and desired toppings. Enjoy 🙂

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