What's with the Olive Oil Imposters

Once you go Paleo there are some things that become essential staples around the house.  While olive oil is pretty popular in general it is a must for Paleo households.  We cook with it, put it on eggs, put it on salads, put it on just about anything.  Good olive oil with some salt and spices is just plain heavenly. Olive oil is so good that it has become big business and with big business comes profit, marketing, cost cutting, and sometimes fraud. The news over the last few months has been flooded with stories about the prevalence of counterfeit olive oil. This piece Extra Virgin Suicide - NYTimes.com gives an entertaining high level on the problem. UC Davis clearly puts a lot of research into olives and in a 2010 study found that 69% of imported extra-virgin olive oils bought in California supermarkets including some very popular brands failed to meet international standards. The worst part of all this is the olive oil you thought was healthy is in many cases the exact same omega-6 laden highly refined oil you were trying to avoid.  

From my high level scrub of the news and research it seems the best way to ensure your olive oil is pure is to either stick with oil that is produced in the US or do a little extra work to verify that a specific olive oil has a seal of approval from a bonafide independent testing organization.  If you want to dive deeper into this rabbit hole, search for "olive oil" on Google News and you will find dozens of articles calling out specific brands good and bad.  

We have decided to give Trader Joe's California Estate Olive Oil a try. It is reasonably priced and was referenced in numerous articles as one that passed the purity tests.  We'll let you know what we think.  

Thanks for stopping by!
Chuck

Photo 1:Wikipedia Olive Tree
Photo 2: Trader Joe's

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/10/21/4925146/how-extra-virgin-is-your-olive.html#storylink=cpy

Homemade Snowville Creamery Butter is as Good as it Gets

I was in Whole Foods the other day hunting down some heavy cream.  I so wanted to buy another half gallon of Snowville Creamery heavy cream that I talked about in the "A Heavy Cream Dilemma" post but a half gallon is a bit much to get through for coffee.  I snagged one of the Whole Foods crew and asked if he could get quarts or pints of this heavenly delicious cream.  He wasn't sure but told me they would be at the store that weekend.  First thing Saturday, the family and I headed out with smaller cream deliveries as our goal.  We got there early so the two young ladies, Morgan and Heather, were just setting up.  I told them of my dilemma and they explained how they were in the process of expanding to include production of smaller heavy cream sizes. They loaded the kids, Steph, and I up with stickers, pins, samples of their yogurt, and creme fraiche. The creme fraiche was really pretty amazing. While the kids were spreading several yogurt samples around the surrounding area, the ladies suggested that I try making butter with the cream which might make purchasing a half gallon a more reasonable thing.  I figured why not and grabbed a half.  A half gallon is about $10 so when you are looking at all the surrounding half gallons of milk it seems pretty expensive.

Sunday morning I figured it was time to give this butter making a try.  The carton had instructions right on it. I dumped half of the carton into my food processor and let it rip.  After a couple minutes I peeked inside and to my surprise saw some change occurring.  At this point things were looking a lot like whipped cream and from a sample was pretty tasty.  I ran the blender for another minute or two and saw about the same thing.  At this point I wasn't so sure the butter was going to be like the butter I like to throw in my coffee or on my sweet potato.  I flipped the food processor back on and a few minutes later I heard a significant change in the sound.  I opened it up and this time BAM it was butter. It was like magic.  OK so maybe you have seen this before but I never had. Five minutes in the processor and the cream had been transformed into butter. I strained the butter, hand pressed it into a mold, and harvested the resulting butter milk.

The butter is some of the tastiest butter I have ever had and knowing how the animals are pastured gives me the highest confidence in the quality of the fat.

I did a little math and this really turned out to be a pretty good deal.  At $10 the half gallon of cream produced one quart of cream for a week of coffee, about one pound of the best butter ever, and a couple cups of butter milk for Steph's cooking experiments.  Normally we end up buying two pints of cream at $3.50-$4 a pop and Kerrygold butter at $3.50/8oz for our coffee.  In comparison, that would be $15 for the same amount of cream and butter not including the butter milk.  From that perspective this stuff is a really good deal and I am convinced this is some of the best quality and best tasting cream you can get.  If you are lucky enough to be in an area that Snowville distributes to give them a try and I bet you'll be sold.  It looks like the Brady's will be making our own butter from now on.

Thanks again for stopping by!
Chuck

Post Workout Nutrition

I have had a few people ask me what I do for post workout nutrition so I thought I would let you know what I am currently up to.  I am continually tweaking what I do based on how well I recover and whether I am trying to lean out or gain muscle.  This should give you an idea that you can build from.

There are two keys to post workout nutrition.  They are protein and glycogen replenishment.

Glycogen Replenishment: The longer more intense the workout the more glycogen that your body will have burned for energy.  This fuel needs to be replaced for future activity and your body is prime to receive a recharge immediately after your workout.  If you do not provide your body with the necessary fuel to recover, depending on the intensity of your workout, you may feel sluggish and fatigued for hours or days following.  To help this replenishment you need an insulin spike followed up with plenty of highly available sugars and simple carbs.

Protein:  Protein is essential for building muscle.  Getting a large amount of highly available protein in your system after a workout will help to repair and build new muscle and will limit muscle soreness and fatigue you would normally experience 1-2 days after an intense workout.  

Right now my workouts are comprised of medium intensity weight lifting days, usually with a light jog (1-3 miles) and a once a week long run day in preparation for the upcoming St. Patty's Half Marathon. With each workout either weight lifting or runs I assess the general intensity of the workout. 

Low Intensity Days: On less intense days I supplement with whey protein isolate containing 30g of protein mixed with water.  I generally don't worry too much about glycogen replenishment on light days. If the workout is very light then I don't supplement at all.

High Intensity Days: On more intense days and long run days I double the whey dose to 60g of protein and mix it with 1 liter of coconut water. The coconut water serves as the glycogen replenishment start.  If I really pushed it that day I don't stop there.  In addition I will have 4 tbsp Brady Nutrition endurance drink (my own endurance drink recipe much like EFS, Acceleraide, or Hammer Heed) and sometimes a sweet potato.  Sweet potatoes are loaded with glucose and are a great post workout option for glycogen replenishment.  I have also started keeping a half dozen sweet potato baby food jars in my gym bag.  If I end up having a pretty intense session and don't have all options available I will drink down a couple baby food jars to support my recovery.

Hold on a minute, sports drinks and whey protein are not Paleo!

There are as many Paleo diets or protocols as there are people that say they are Paleo.  It is my opinion that Paleo is to provide a framework to start from. Once you have embraced the Paleo diet there is no reason you cannot incorporate foods and supplements that many not fit the strictest Paleo guidelines.  This should be done systematically and with a complete understanding of the pros and cons of each addition.  Sports drinks and whey are certainly not Paleo.  However, if you are an endurance athlete, power lifter, etc there are a number of supplements that can significantly benefit your performance and health in variety of ways. Understand the science, benefits, and risks, and if you deem an option appropriate try it for a short period and see how you feel and if there are any adverse effects.  Continue to stay up to date on the latest information and reassess as new information becomes available.    

Which whey protein should I use?

I use a whey isolate since it is virtually lactose, fat, carbohydrate, and cholesterol free. This allows me to more directly control my macro nutrient intake. There are plenty of articles out there about junk that is in various protein powders.  There doesn't seem to be a clear link between cost and quality. Some think going grass-fed is the best option.  It probably doesn't make any difference in terms of supplementation but you are supporting more positive industry practices.  I have looked at the grass-fed options and at $40-$50 a pound I can hardly justify the expense when many conventional forms are less than $10 a pound.  I say pick a powder that you like and mixes well.  Do a little research to see if it has been flagged as having contaminants and then follow up every now and then.

Hope that helps you out! Let  me know if you have any questions or suggestions.

Thanks

Chuck

bradynutrition.com is now on Facebook and Twitter

We are spreading our wings a little so in addition to checking out the blog at bradynutrition.com, you can keep also track of what we are up to on Facebook and Twitter  We've got lots of posts and recipes in the works so keep your eyes peeled and please let us know if you have any specific Paleo questions or things you would like to see us dive into. 

Thanks for checking out the blog and liking us on Facebook!

Chuck

Simple Paleo Pancakes

During our first month of Paleo this was our number one snack food.   Now days it is a bit more of an occasional treat. It is really important when you are starting out to have a few go to items that can get you through a craving or extreme hunger moment.  This is a great one.  These are great as a desert or snack hot and fresh off the griddle but also good chilled for snacks during the week.

There are a lot of Paleo pancake recipes out there but the beauty of this one is how simple it is but there are a few things you need to know for success. The thickness of the batter is critical in getting pancakes that set up good and are relatively easy to flip.  Green bananas will give you a nice thick batter that will hold form a little better.  If your batter is a little thin try adding more almond butter it will thicken things up.  It is also important to cook them slowly and wait for the flip as long as possible. I usually set are griddle around 280 degrees but am always tempted to crank it up to 350 for quick results.  These can be a challenge to flip especially if the batter is thin or if you have cooked them too fast.  I usually use two small spatulas on either side to decrease the occurrence of disaster . Try adding mixed fruit, blueberries, chocolate chunks, or virtually anything you have laying around to make these interesting.  I am always trying some new combo.

• PREP5 mins
• Cook
  10 mins
• READY IN15 mins

Ingredients:

• 1 big green banana
• 1 big spoon full of fresh ground almond butter
• 1 egg
• 1 tbsp butter
• Optional
• mixed berries
• 85% chocolate pieces
• cacao powder
• fresh nutmeg
• cinnamon
• etc

Directions:

1. Add the banana, almond butter, and egg to a mixing bowl
2. Blend with an immersion hand blender until smooth 
3. Fold in whatever optional ingredients you have laying around
4. Heat up the griddle and melt the butter
5. Pour batter out into 3" pancakes on the griddle 
6. Flip when pancake is firming up good
7. Cook an additional couple minutes and serve immediately or chill for latter