In stepping up to using up the 10 lbs. I gained this summer
––(I like to think in terms of "using" rather than "losing"; after all, fat is our body's very own stored fuel, which is pretty smart! not a moral flaw or something like that that I want to lose)––
uh, yeah, so, in actively doing that, I started to use one of those online trackers to pay attention to what I eat (livestrong, but there are many others).
And the tracker sent me [not really] a little message:
"Have you noticed you eat hardly any protein?"
Urgh.
I'm also trying to track carbs, because my glucose is high-normal, and both my parents developed diabetes.
The easiest way to get lowest-carbs + highest protein combo is to eat meat. I'm not a vegetarian but I don't eat much meat, and almost never cook it.
Yeah, tofu & co. is good too, and I'll add more of that too, but I'm starting to eat more meat. And that means cooking it.
So, it's weird, but I was heartened to realize that while organic meat is expensive (!), I don't have to eat very much of it.
Serving sizes, as you no doubt know, have nothing to do with restaurant sizes:
3 oz. of lean meat is the size of a deck of playing cards. Or to put it in modern terms, of a smartphone.
Math challenge:
Say organic chicken costs $9.00/lb. (That's high, actually.)
Then it's 56¢/ounce, right?
(56¢ x 16 oz. = 896)
Uh, so ... 3 ounces = $1.62, which isn't too bad.
Last night I made chicken ratatouille.
I grilled all the ingredients under the stove broiler:
eggplant, bell peppers, onions, tomatoes, and chicken
Then I simmered them together on the stovetop with capers and raisins.
I can report that it wasn't as good as a Snickers bar, but it was pretty good and it had ...ooh, more math...
Snickers = 3 grams of protein
3 oz chicken = 23 g protein
So, that's more than 7 x more protein.
Also, a Snickers bar has 28 grams of carbs, and chicken has 0.
I can do that math without a calculator!
Is this all boring? It's helpful to me to write it out, but sorry if it is...
Actually, I think the science of food is pretty interesting.
Like, what is protein?
It builds muscle, yeah, but beyond that?
"Chemically, protein is composed of amino acids, which are organic compounds made of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen or sulfur. "
Yay! It's STAR STUFF.
OMG--no lie--look at this amino acid under some crazy microscope:
––(I like to think in terms of "using" rather than "losing"; after all, fat is our body's very own stored fuel, which is pretty smart! not a moral flaw or something like that that I want to lose)––
uh, yeah, so, in actively doing that, I started to use one of those online trackers to pay attention to what I eat (livestrong, but there are many others).
And the tracker sent me [not really] a little message:
"Have you noticed you eat hardly any protein?"
Urgh.
I'm also trying to track carbs, because my glucose is high-normal, and both my parents developed diabetes.
The easiest way to get lowest-carbs + highest protein combo is to eat meat. I'm not a vegetarian but I don't eat much meat, and almost never cook it.
Yeah, tofu & co. is good too, and I'll add more of that too, but I'm starting to eat more meat. And that means cooking it.
So, it's weird, but I was heartened to realize that while organic meat is expensive (!), I don't have to eat very much of it.
Serving sizes, as you no doubt know, have nothing to do with restaurant sizes:
3 oz. of lean meat is the size of a deck of playing cards. Or to put it in modern terms, of a smartphone.
Math challenge:
Say organic chicken costs $9.00/lb. (That's high, actually.)
Then it's 56¢/ounce, right?
(56¢ x 16 oz. = 896)
Uh, so ... 3 ounces = $1.62, which isn't too bad.
Last night I made chicken ratatouille.
I grilled all the ingredients under the stove broiler:
eggplant, bell peppers, onions, tomatoes, and chicken
Then I simmered them together on the stovetop with capers and raisins.
I can report that it wasn't as good as a Snickers bar, but it was pretty good and it had ...ooh, more math...
Snickers = 3 grams of protein
3 oz chicken = 23 g protein
So, that's more than 7 x more protein.
Also, a Snickers bar has 28 grams of carbs, and chicken has 0.
I can do that math without a calculator!
Is this all boring? It's helpful to me to write it out, but sorry if it is...
Actually, I think the science of food is pretty interesting.
Like, what is protein?
It builds muscle, yeah, but beyond that?
"Chemically, protein is composed of amino acids, which are organic compounds made of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen or sulfur. "
Yay! It's STAR STUFF.
OMG--no lie--look at this amino acid under some crazy microscope:
Re: this calls for paisley - my thoughts exactly!
ReplyDeleteWell, not precisely: I thought, "Ooh, can't wait to see what Fresca makes of this!" Then saw you were thinking 'paisley.' Oh, yeah!
It's amazing, isn't it!
ReplyDelete