Dieting? Better Have Someone Hide The Chocolate

Common wisdom tells us that willpower is key in losing weight. That there’s only one way to succeed, you need to set your mind to it and fully commit: clean food, calorie restriction, exercise and healthy lifestyle.
If you don’t have the mental strength to do it, you’re doomed to fail. End of the story.
However, the concept of willpower in diet has been the subject of much criticism. Researchers have long rejected the idea that there’s some innate force that will keep you from resisting bad habits1.
To attribute dieting success or failure just to willpower - researchers say - is a simplification that ignores details of the numerous mechanisms in play behind a successful weight loss program.
Believing that only willpower can do the magic trick entails a further risk. If you assume that it’s just a matter of mental strength, you can feel less in control of your eating habits and conclude that, if it’s not your DNA, there’s nothing you can do about it.
That’s not it though. The success of dieting is made by the sum of several behavioral changes. Willpower is one of them but it’s not the only one. There’s the interaction of brain chemicals, behavioral conditioning, hormones, heredity and the influence of habits. All these factors are part of the diet equation2.

Whole Wheat Rhubarb Strawberry Crumb Bars

Yesterday was totally my binge day. OMG, score!
I’ve decided to allow myself one binge day a month, mostly because I am so good all the time.
I don’t eat this, I don’t drink that and I train/exercise every single day. So I rightfully deserve a binge day once in a while. A much deserved reward.
For the record, my binge day is not really how normal folks would define a binge day. There’s no stuffing my mouth with processed food, fried food, sugary drinks or anything of the sort.
All my friends say that my binging day is the lamest thing ever. That I’m not even binging. I’m just pretending to binge while still eating healthy food.
I dissent.
To me binging is only about enjoying food I don’t usually eat. I would never binge on BigMac, Pringles, KFC, etc. I find no pleasure whatsoever in eating these foods; it would be pure torture.
Mindless, thoughtless eating doesn’t really work out for me. The act of just shoveling something in, without any thought, it’s just not me. Period.

Jamaican Jerk Chicken with Mango Salsa

I’ve never been to Jamaica. I had planned to go there two years ago, but I scrapped those plans because of work. It really sucked and I still seethe about it. My holidays were ruined and I was deprived of the opportunity to visit a place I’ve always been interested in. Argh...
To fill the void, I started hanging out - quite a lot - at Miss Lily’s; a Jamaican joint on West Houston. A great little luncheonette, where you can enjoy a taste of Caribbean cuisine.
I can confess without shame that I have tried almost every single item on the menu, and they all tastes great.
I have favorites, but the jerk chicken stands alone at the top of my list. It’s a great dish, full of depth and character.

Paleo Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Today was one of those day, you know, when you’re just not feeling it. As usual I went for my early morning run, but at mile 2 I was like: “Humph, it’s not happening!”
So I changed and went to the swimming pool for my typical 60 min swim training session. But by the 10th lap I felt as if my shoulders were made of concrete. I got out, dried off and changed. Now what?
I wasn’t ready to give up, so I decided to go to Bikram Yoga and get it over with.
Somehow I immediately felt that it was the right decision to make. In Bikram there’s no getting out of hot room once the class starts. You need to stay in for the full 90 minutes, no bailing out possible.
In the end, it proved to be the right choice. I sweat out all that I was holding onto (whatever that was); it was as if the toxins (and negativity) of my day fell to the ground under me. I felt reinvigorated and ready to kick-ass again. BOOM!

Baked Quinoa with Spiced Apples, Carrots and Red Onions

It’s been almost two months since I posted a recipe with quinoa. I know, C-R-A-Z-Y. How have I got away with it for so long? I honestly don’t know, I just did.
In my defence, quinoa is always on my mind. There hardly goes a week when I don’t have at least a meal involving quinoa.
Lately I’ve been cooking a lot this Spicy Mexican Quinoa Casserole, which has become one of the most popular recipes on this blog. It makes everybody happy and it reconciled some of my friends with quinoa. The few who thought that quinoa was yuk, have now joined the quinoa team. Massive.

Tomato Avocado Burgers (Low Carb and Gluten-Free)

We’re talking bunless burgers over ‘ere. Wait...what? Bunless burgers? Yep, that's it, a burger sans bun.
I feel you’re already judging me. So stop right there and allow me to make an argument for bunless burger, or better yet, for THIS particular bunless burger. If I can't convince you, feel free to leave, but not before you've heard it all.

Is There Such A Thing As Too Many Antioxidants?

I’m not sure why, but this question has been daunting me these past few days. So I figured, I must get to the bottom of it, because I’m the type of person that goes bonkers over these sort of things.
Too much green tea? Too much fruit? When too much of a good thing becomes bad? 
You see, over the last decade or so we’ve been relentlessly told that antioxidants are the key to better health. “The more, the better!” is the adage we keep hearing. 
As a result, grocery stores shelves are now chock-full of products with labels bragging that they contain large amounts of antioxidants, implying that you’re just few bites away from better health. 
However, when it comes to antioxidants, as I discovered, more doesn’t necessarily means better.  

Homemade (Paleo) Sriracha

After bragging about how much I love Sriracha for a whole post, I felt it was about time for me to try making a homemade version of the beloved Rooster hot sauce.
So I did, earlier today.
As you might remember (if not, it's ok), there are two notorious recipes online for DIY Sriracha. One very detailed, that calls for a week of fermentation. The other recipe requires instead about 20 minutes and it’s also paleo.
Obviously, I chose the easier/quicker/paleo one. I’m a notorious slacker in the kitchen; no way I would take on a project that requires 7 days of my life.

Paleo Strawberry Apricot Crisp

Crisps (or crumbles) are a great crowd-pleasing and delicious desserts that come together in a cinch. 

Anyone can make a crisp, even the most hardcore pastry-challenged person. There’s no rolling with tricky dough or multiple slow rises. Just a bit of chopping and mixing stands between you and a real fruity pleasure.
Fruit+lemonjuice+sugar topped with butter+sugar+flour = fruit crisp in it simplest form.
But it’s good to try new things, and maybe take the paleo road for once. Just for a dessert, nothing too drastic and you can give this ama-zuh-zing paleo strawberry apricot crisp a try.

Key West Spicy Chicken

I wanted to write an ode to Sriracha. A ridiculously long post listing all the reasons why I love the hot rooster sauce.
In my mind, it started with a list of foods that taste better when slathered with a generous amount of Sriracha (all foods except for a couple of desserts, duh!). It ended with a poem in which I would confess my undying devotion for the hot sauce; even in those instances in which I accidentally applied too much Sriracha and simply powered through the pain and the tears.
Because that hot stuff in a squeeze bottle is not only delicious, it’s pure magic.
Then somebody (yeah, you!) talked me out of it because “Sriracha contains stuff you don’t recognize, like potassium sorbate, sodium bisulfite, and xantham gum. You can’t possibly talk about that junk on your health blog!” A couple of chemical preservatives and the fun is over. Bummer.