mjbrenner Member

Why would you juice the fruits and vegetables rather than just eating them?

Good job! Make it two days in a row tomorrow!

I tend to cook hotter and faster than Marll does, but that is just a personal preference you find in time. I also make my own steak rubs - you can find several good recipes on the web if you want to mix up the flavor of the beef. I love the cuts listed above, but my house is on a budget that does not allow for them on a…

It is not really cool to lump Atkins in with HCG, ultra calorie restriction, and other unhealthy approaches. Please educate yourself on a topic before you discourage others from it. While Atkins is not for everyone, it is an eating strategy that focuses on consuming whole foods and a reasonable quantity of carbohydrates.…

Since your doctor has asked you to watch your carbs, you might benefit from using a lower-carb eating strategy. Many people, myself included, metabolize fasts in a much healthier fashion than we do carbs. Your doctor can do a full metabolic panel to help you figure this out, but it sounds like you may have already had one…

I should share that I began slow carbing last spring but fell off the wagon late in the summer for a variety of reasons. I resumed in October and have been going strong since. My experience is unique to me, but I am happy to share if anyone has any questions or wants to send a friend request.

The other day at the gym, I saw this guy doing push ups with his feet on top of one Swiss ball and his hands on top of another. I could _almost_ understand this exercise if he had the core strength and balance to pull it off, but he was just flopping around and falling into the mat several times per push up. It was…

I have heard from a highly reliable source that real men have crowns and pose in dramatic lighting. Chainsaw hands and shotguns are a close second, however. :smokin:

Hair o' the dog that bit ya?

Dry red wine is an excellent choice. Dry white wines are fine as well, but red has a few more health benefits.

The presenter does a great job of summarizing the key concepts behind the low carb/high fat movement, as well as pointing out that this is not a new idea. It was a good watch - maybe not as informative to people who have been doing LCHF for a while, but still interesting and enjoyable. Thanks for sharing, and good luck to…

I really dislike calling someone out like this, but this is pretty much 100% incorrect about a low carb lifestyle, at least for the average low carber. Losing muscle as well as fat comes from not exercising, not eating low carb. Most people find the sugar withdrawal annoying, not crippling (though there likely are some…

If it is meatless Fridays for Lent, then fish is allowed. Have a good old fashioned fish fry! Get some nice halibut fillets and dredge them in flour (lightly seasoned), beaten egg, and then the flour again. Let them sit for 15 minutes on a plate before shallow frying so the breading sticks better. I like to use garbanzo…

I do not follow the Spike84 protocol, but Spike84 is not the only diet plan that involves cheat days. The big thing I do is I eat below my MFP goals six days a week, so I can spend the extra calories on my cheat day.

No, the ingredients are not yet all natural. They do have natural and artificial flavors, which is really no direct problem (artificial flavors are safe, but can be a sign of low-quality food). They also contain artificial colors, which can be problematic for some (there is real controversy surrounding some of the dyes…

All Girl Scout Cookies are at least "zero trans fat per serving" if not completely trans fat free. I do not know what you consider to be "crap", but they got rid of the trans fasts, at least, a while ago.

I wish I remembered the review of a few different experiments that laid it out, but it was months ago that I read it. In essence, most of the data used to explain "starvation mode", including the metabolic slowdown and reduction of muscle mass, comes from studies of people at a healthy body weight. This trend does not hold…

My wife and I cannot have children without gross medical intervention that she finds physically and emotionally devastating. People abuse their children every day and nothing can be done about it. I just do not have the words to express the depths of my feelings of senseless loss and complete tragedy.

While it does technically take weeks for SSRIs to kick in full steam, there is a really nifty different effect that has developed in the past ten to fifteen years. SSRIs often begin to work nearly immediately for some people. This has been tied to a positive placebo effect. In essence, the evidence that SSRIs work is so…

Starvation mode can be a problem for people who are already at or near a healthy BMI. If you are obese, it is far less of a problem, because your body will not as easily switch over to a metabolic slowdown, and more importantly, it will not as easily begin catabolizing muscular protein instead of fat.

I hate sharing this info, because as more people realize it, the price goes up - but I guess I am just a nice guy ;) Two great cuts of steak that are inexpensive are the top blade steak and the chuck eye. Top blade is very tender and flavorful with excellent marbling, There is a single run of gristle right down the middle…

You are welcome! You inspired me to grab some beef chuck roast that was on sale today so I can grind it up tomorrow for future use. Enjoy the fresh beef!

Some people do better with a single cheat meal and more freedom in their daily routine. Some of us are happy to have less freedom day-to-day in exchange for a full-blown cheat day. Neither is inherently wrong.

I like the term "cheat day", because I am breaking my daily routine. "Free day" is a another good term. I dislike the "spike" terminology, only because it is tied to a specific commercial diet plan, whereas a cheat day is more generic in focus. I have one cheat day per week, usually Sundays, where I eat two to three times…

Veggies, veggies, veggies! I love them all. After I pan fry a steak, I will often saute greens in the leftover drippings. If I am already entering the calories for the steak, I might as well enjoy the flavorful juices and fats it leaves behind in the pan. I will saute cabbage with olive oil, curry powder, cumin, and some…

I have curbed my dessert cravings by having a couple glasses of red wine on those nights. Wine just makes everything so much easier. My wife laughs at me, because I will walk by sweets sitting out on the counter, pause, and then glare at them and say, "Sunday," in a menacing voice. If I can't eat them today, I might as…

Standard ground beef is 85% lean, 15% fat. You can find it in the MFP database using the percentages as your search criteria. I often grind my own beef from bottom round cuts just because it tastes so much better than the pre-mixed ground beef.

For Italian dishes with a red sauce, I prefer spaghetti squash or cannellini beans. For white sauces, shirataki noodles are fine as a flavor delivory mechanism, but the texture is off. In Asian dishes, these noodles SHINE. Shirataki noodles with leftover veggies and meat with a red curry sauce is a regular lunch for me.…

When you transition for as lower-carb to higher-carb diet, you will gain an easy 8-10 lbs. of water weight, even if you still maintain a caloric deficit. There is nothing wrong with this, but it is good to know that if you see the scale jump up a ton after a "bad" day, it's no big deal. You just need to burn off that…

I, too, never met a plate I could not clean. If there is more room in my stomach, I want to fill it with delicious, delicious food. My biggest problem has always been, simply, that I love food. I love light, refined fair for sophisticated palates, and I love big, greasy, messes thrown on a plate with extra sauce. I love…