Foods that Go a Loooong Way

By Leah Hosburgh aka Chef for an Army of 1, Matty Hosburgh

We are halfway through our nutrition challenges and many of you are spending your Sundays (or one day during the week) shopping and prepping. I hope one day to be zen like in my food prep, eat delicious fresh veggies from the farmer's market, perfectly zoned, and freshly prepared each day. Some of you DO manage that, and props to those of you who do! My method of food prep, on the other hand, includes a massive cooking session, prepping for both my husband (with a black hole stomach) and myself. I've found some staple foods that go a looong way for families, or people who just like to have a lot of their cooking done before the work week starts. 


1. SPAGHETTI SQUASH

Why it's Delicious: This is the perfect carb quencher as its texture, taste, and appearance is very much like, well, spaghetti. You can make pots full of your favorite "pasta" dish that will keep giving til at least mid week!

Best Nutritional Attributes: Glycemic load of a mere 2, 4 g of sugar per serving, so you can eat a ton of it without worrying about eating too many carbs (however, Zoners may find this very annoying because they need to get 10 pounds of this down to make a dent in their carb intake)

Favorite Way to Cook It: Pressure cooker. Slice in half. Spoon out seeds. Pressure cook it. Fork out "spaghetti" goodness.

Lasting Power: 10/10

2. ACORN SQUASH

Why it's Delicious: There is something very warming to the soul, and decadent about this squash. The texture is dessert like, and when spiced right, is very satisfying. Admittedly, this is a total hit in the fall. But I partake in this goodness throughout the year. 

Best Nutritional Attributes: Decent amount of potassium and magnesium, both nutrients required for optimal workout recovery. Also, 9 grams of dietary fiber per serving (1 C). 

Favorite way to cook it: Oven. Slice in half. Spoon out seeds. Put some grass fed butter or olive oil in center. Spice with whatever fits your fancy. Bake for about 25-30 min at 350 degrees F. So. Easy. And I'll take down about one half per meal, they are small and easy to fit 3-5 in the oven per cooking session.

Lasting Power: 6/10

3. SWEET POTATOES

Why it's Delicious: It's a potato. 'Nuff said.

Best Nutritional Attributes: Make sure it's orange because the orangier the more beta carotene, a pigment that the human body converts into Vitamin A. Beta carotene is also and anitoxidant, so basically assists in reducing damage caused by free radicals, oxidation, and/or basically being alive on this planet. Depending on what source you use, sweet potatoes have more vitamins and minerals than regular potatoes and rate lower on the glycemic index. But, there is a A LOT to that story. Depending on how you cook your sweet potatoes the GI increases per serving. Read this article for more info on sweet potatoes vs potatoes than you ever wanted to know. Turns out regular potatoes aren't that bad in comparison, but that's hoping a little keeps you satiated more than green, leafy stuff, always a more nutritionally dense option than both sweets and pots.

Favorite Way to Cook It: Honestly, throw about five or six in a glass baking pan* with some water at the bottom, and bake. That's a lot of food cooked in a short time, that will go the distance for a few days in my house. I could eat a plate of grilled grass fed steak or burger, a baked sweet potato, and salad for days. But, boiling sweet potatoes will actually keep GI lower than when baked. 

Lasting Power: 8/10

*I personally avoid aluminum foil because it is a neurotoxin. Mainstream science promises aluminum foil used in cooking will not harm you. I'm a skeptic, what can I say. I could write more on that but since aluminum is all over the place already, and scientists do agree that it is a neurotoxin, I try not to deliberately contribute to my or my family's intake as much as possible.

**Disclaimer: Eat your green, leafies, too. We add ready made salads and berries to any meal with the above mentioned foods. But, these three staples make Mama and Papa Hoss feel full and satisfied without a lot of hassle, and without sacrificing nutrition or tastiness. 

Why Are We Doing Two Nutrition Challenges?

The New Year is here and that means a fresh start. For most people this means getting to the gym and dieting after a holiday season full of lots of great food and drinks. Unfortunately, this attempt usually fails after a week or two because of the lack of guidance, accountability, and commitment. The difference between these people and you, is that you have access to all of these things through NoCoast!

If you’re reading this, you are most likely already a part of our community and getting to the gym is not the problem (if you’re not, click here to find out how to become a member and get a great deal for the New Year). For most of us at NoCoast, our New Year’s Resolution is nutrition related. It’s either getting back on the Paleo wagon, learning how the Paleo Diet can improve your overall health and trying it for the first time, or learning how to balance your food intake and daily lifestyle choices to take your fitness to the next level.

Because nutrition is such a common New Year’s Resolution and because it’s extremely hard to make it last long term, we want to use the power of community to make your nutrition and fitness goals work for you. Therefore, we will be kicking off our New Year’s Nutrition Challenges this Saturday, January 4th at 11:00 am with our Paleo Challenge and Performance Challenge meetings.

So why two options? Well, for the more experienced athletes, another Paleo challenge is probably only going to be that: a 30 day challenge. We want our athletes to build sustainable, long lasting habits. So we're providing the Performance Challenge for anyone who has already done at least one Paleo challenge. (AKA, we know that weekends aren't REALLY "80:20" Paleo or whatever nebulous policy you've developed as a Paleo eater.) Why keep the Paleo challenge? Because if you've never really cleaned up your diet, you have an addiction to sugar and any substance that will eventually become sugar in your body. Time to cut it out!

The 30 Day Paleo Challenge is for those of you looking to make the big change from "I eat what I want" to "I eat what I need" policy. (Eventually you'll want to only eat what you need, by the way.) This challenge is great for beginners, and people who need to change their lifestyle to a healthier more conscientious attitude. This challenge will pull you off your sugar highs and lows, set your glucose levels to baseline level, and get you off the crap you are hooked on. The focus of this challenge is, "cut the crap." It will include weigh ins, measurements, and photos. This will be strict paleo: meat, veggies, some fruit, good fats, no sugar, no alcohol, no grains, no dairy.

The 28 Day Performance Challenge is for those of you interested in taking your fitness to the next level! This will be for anyone who is going from "I eat what I need to live" policy to "I eat and do what I need to perform" policy. During the 28 day challenge, you will track your nutrition, sleep, workouts, and recovery. For the performance challenge, we will adopt the Zone Diet as our nutritional resource. Our goal is to measure the quantity of food we're consuming, while continuing to eat high quality foods. This challenge will have a prerequisite, which will be our 30 Day Paleo Challenge (or some type of baseline challenge). This challenge will consist of pre and post challenge testing, weigh ins, measurements, and photos.

Our Saturday Nutrition Clinics will give you the knowledge and information needed to make this year’s New Year’s Resolution successful. You will be held accountable and have the support of our community and your coaches to make sure you turn your goals into lifelong habits.

Start your New Year off right by going to MindBody and signing up for a clinic. If you have any questions, please ask Leah, Sam, or Dan.