I received an honorary “Rookie of the Year” trophy a few hours into 2013 at my first ever racquetball tournament earlier this week on New Years day.  On most days, I’m a C-class player but on good days I can beat a B-class player.  Unfortunately, while my ketogenic low-carb diet has made a great improvement in my cardio and muscular endurance, it will not entirely compensate for lack of skill.  I have a lot of opportunity for improvement this year!

Ketosis Update: 2.4 mM/L…3.5 hours after playing racquetball with blood glucose of 73 mg/dL.  Also lost another 2 pounds, bringing me to 213.0.  At this point, I’m satisfied with my scale weight because my clothes fit even more comfortably now; I’m more focused on chiseling an enviable beach body by Summer and improving my racquetball game further.

Dear Broccoli,

As a little kid, I know we got off to a rough start.  Whether fresh, steamed, salted, or coated in EZ Cheese, there was no hiding who you were from my taste buds.  And so for a long time, I just avoided you, even though you had the health halo of being nutritious food on just about any diet.

However, I’ve recently discovered that you’re not so bad with the right crowd.  You just needed more natural fats–full-fat sour cream, real butter, cream cheese–as part of your entourage.  And also Parmesan cheese and some meat, like chicken that has been de-boned, for good measure.  Now we’re good!

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 375F

2. Prepare a 9 X 13 baking pan

3. Mix together thawed broccoli florets (2 packages), 1 de-boned chicken, melted butter (3 tbsp), sour cream (7 tbsp), reduced fat cream cheese (4 oz) (this actually had lower carbs than full-fat), salt, and pepper.

4. Place in pre-heated oven for 25 minutes, let cool for a few minutes, then section into 6 microwavable containers for later re-heating.  My wife loves these!

Per container serving: 345 calories, 4g carbs (1g fiber), 26g fat, 20g protein

And for Dessert: Ice Cream!

1 pint of slightly melted Arctic Zero ice cream (vanilla maple flavor), 2 tbsp of PB2 powder, 1/2 cup of chopped pecans, and 2 tsp of ground cinnamon.

For the entire thing: 565 calories, 41g carbs (18g fiber), 46g fat, 25g protein.

My Take on the Butter Debate

Believe it or not, real butter can be hard to find in restaurants and grocery stores.  In most grocery stores I visit, something like 90% of your options are some kind of margarine, or fake butter.  In restaurants, including even many steak houses, they don’t carry any.  I know I probably appear insane whenever I ask a restaurant waiter if they carry any real butter or not, but let’s briefly review how fake and real butter are made to see who’s sane here.

Fake Butter (Derived from Industrial Vegetable Oils)

Industrial vegetable oils–i.e. canola, soybean, corn, cottonseed–involve a big factory; heavy metals, heat, and pressure; solvents; haz-mat suits; and bleach.  They are used in making “heart healthy” margarine and other shelf-stable foods. Below is a high level process manufacturing flowchart and YouTube video.

“How Canola Oil is Made” (Discovery and Science Channel).

Yes, you can believe it’s not butter! Only in America is this considered a “health food.”

Real Butter

By contrast, this is how real butter is made along with accompanying video:

“How Butter is Made”

Which is the real food?  Which one would common sense tell you is “heart healthy”?

And Some of the Girls