BEEF: IT’S WHAT’S FOR BREAKFAST!

OK, we know it seems odd. Beef doesn’t strike many as standard breakfast fare. Us¬ing leftovers from the previous evening however, one can make a tasty breakfast in no time flat. A recent beef breakfast:

Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:
. Cooked London broil chopped into small pieces
. Tomatoes, chopped (or use halved cherry tomatoes)
. Cilantro, chopped
. Garlic, minced
. Olive oil

Heat skillet with a little bit of olive oil. Mince garlic and add to skillet first, allow¬ing it to infuse the oil for 1-2 minutes. Next, add the chopped meat and allow it to cook for about 1 minute. Add tomatoes and cook for 2-3 minutes or until they begin to break down. Finally add the chopped cilantro, sauté for one minute, then serve.

Zone blocks: It’s easy! London broil is one block protein per ounce cooked. Tomatoes: 3/4 cup = 1 block carbohydrate. 1/3 tsp olive oil = 1 block fat. Add additional vegetables or a side of fruit to balance carbohydrates if necessary.

Be creative: there are numerous variations on this theme! Changing the variety of meat and/or the spice selection creates an im¬pressive variety of quick and tasty morning meals. One can use El Pato sauce (see the April PM for more on this) for a spicy kick, or change up the flavor dramatically with a bit of allspice or garam masala. Experiment and let us know what you cook up!


DAVE WERNER’S BREAKFAST SHAKE

Editors Note: Perhaps our most frequent request is for snacks and/or “quick” food. This can be a challenge if one is keep¬ing true to Paleo foods and minimum pro¬cessing. That considered, Dave Werner’s (dave@crossfitnorth.com) Breakfast Shake is a great idea. One can use the basic recipe and substitute Bioplex Simply Whites Egg Protein for the yogurt and whey and add a bit more fruit in place of the oatmeal for a great Paleo alternative.

For me breakfast is the hardest meal of the day to get right. I really felt the difference, though, on those rare occasions when I did manage to get a good Zone breakfast. Clearly I needed a way to make the Zone breakfast a regular occurrence. “No Time for breakfast” wasn’t going to cut it any longer.

The solution presented here is portable, tasty, fast and easy to prepare in advance, and highly nutritious: a breakfast shake. Obviously there are many ways to make a breakfast shake, so I will share the rea¬ sons for choosing these particular ingredi¬ents. Feel free to use this recipe “as is” or as a jumping off point for your own perfect breakfast.

The quantities given are for a 6-block shake; this allows a 4-block breakfast and a 2-block snack later in the day—with no extra work!

Place first six ingredients into a blender jar; blend until thor¬oughly mixed. Add berries and blend again until shake is creamy. The whole thing usually fits into a 1 liter bottle.

The shake takes about 15 min¬utes to make, including clean up. To further streamline your morning, make it the night before and stick it in the refrigerator. Now you can get a reasonable breakfast as you drive to work or right after your workout.

Let’s discuss the ingredient choices. Remem¬ber, these ingredients reflect my goals and prejudices so adjust according to your own needs. Most of my choices come from Barry Sears’s book “The Top 100 Zone Foods” .
At its core this is a protein and berry shake. The protein sources are whey protein pow¬der and yogurt. I’ve chosen whey powder because it tastes better than other types, has little effect on insulin and may stimulate the immune system. Yogurt is in the mix be¬cause it tastes good, provides the right mix of protein and carbohydrates, is an excel¬lent source of calcium and potassium, and helps maintain a healthy digestive tract. Whenever possible chose yogurt with live cultures. You will screw up everything by using brands which contain fruit or other flavors—stay away from that.

The carbohydrates in this meal are provided partly by the yogurt, as already discussed; the balance of carbs comes from berries and a little bit of oatmeal. Berries, such as blueberries, blackberries and strawberries, are nutritional superstars. These extraordi¬nary fruits are high in anti-oxidative capac¬ity and loaded with other good things. One cup of blueber¬ries has a mere 80 calories yet contains nearly a third of the RDA of vitamin C. One cup of strawber¬ries provides an impressive 140 percent of the daily vitamin C requirement. These fruits are rich sources of flavonoids, po¬tassium, fiber and lots of helpful phytochemicals. Oatmeal is also thrown into the carbohydrate mix for its protein containing, cholesterol lowering, high fiber goodness.

No Zone meal is complete without the fat, and the fat in this meal comes from Flax seed and olive oil. Udo Erasmus in his book “Fats that Heal, Fats that Kill” has this to say regarding Flax seeds: “Flax Seeds pro¬vide good nutrition in the form of protein, oil containing lecithin, phytosterols, and other valuable minor ingredients, miner¬als, vitamins, soluble and insoluble fiber and lignans.” The fresh oil of Flax is the best-known source of alpha-linolenic acid (LNA), which is an omega-3 fatty acid es¬sential in our diet and not widely avail¬able in our food. Flax protein contains all the amino acids necessary to human health. Flax seeds are also a rich source of muci¬lage, a soft water soluble form of fiber which sooths intestinal lining, prevents reabsorp¬tion of bile acids, decreases the absorption of cholesterol, and is nourishing to benefi¬cial bacteria in our gut. Pretty good for a fat source, no? “The Anti-Inflammation Zone,” Dr. Barry Sears’ latest book, calls olive oil a rich source of monounsaturated fat that is low in pro-inflammatory omega-6 fatty ac¬ids. The real benefit of extra-virgin olive oil, however, comes from a unique phytochemi¬cal it contains called hydroxytyrosol that is found only in olive oil. “Hydroxytyrosol ap¬pears to be an inhibitor of the enzymes that produce pro-inflammatory eicosanoids.” In other words, think of extra-virgin olive oil as liquid aspirin.

Do not waste your money on flax oil: it quickly goes rancid (rancid flax oil is called linseed oil and is used to paint furniture), and has been stripped of most of the vita¬mins and all of the fiber naturally present in the whole seeds. Flax seed is cheap and easy to store. Buy an inexpensive coffee grinder and grind your flax seeds fresh as you use them. Extra-virgin olive oil is worth the ex¬tra money; only it contains hydroxytyrosol.

There are many substitutions for the ingre¬dients I’ve suggested. One and a quarter slices of pineapple in place of the oatmeal and blackberries instead of blueberries are two possibilities. Use your imagination and have fun.

Zone Blocks: 1 Shake = 6 Zone Blocks