A Favourite Strawberry Cottage Cheese “Zone” Recipe

Strawberry Cottage Cheese

Here is a quick one and it’s a favourite of mine. It’s great for lunch or breakfast and it is quick and easy!  It is hormonally balanced with and doesn’t leave me feeling sleepy after eating it. I’ve also substituted 1 cup of blueberries or raspberries with great tasting results as well. Let me know how you like it! I find this is great before a workout as it doesn’t leave you with that heavy feeling in your stomach, and it digests easily.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup low fat cottage cheese (3 protein)
• 1/2 cup plain yogurt (1 protein and 1 carb)
• 1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce (1 carb)
• 1 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen) (2 carb)
• 4 teaspoons slivered almonds (4 fat)

Directions:

• Place strawberries and applesauce, nutmeg and cinnamon in a blender and pulse 2 or 3 times. You don’t have to, if you want you can keep the fruits whole and treat them as little treats when you get them!

• In a medium bowl, combine strawberry mixture, yogurt and cottage cheese.

• Sprinkle with almonds and serve.

Other measurements if you don’t have a measuring cup and just want to eyeball it!

Cottage Cheese : 1/2 of the container (see picture right)

Yogurt : 4 heaping tablespoons

Unsweetened Applesauce: 1 small container for kids lunches. 100 ml

Fruit: 8 medium sized strawberries, not the frankenberries that have no taste. I cut them up to make them fit in the bowl better.

Almonds: 3 per fat block, 12-16 for most people. I don’t use the low fat yogurt or the low fat cottage cheese, so substitute as needed. Maybe that is why I like this so much!

Fruit recommendations:

Pick what is in season and what is local. This way you will ensure freshness and great taste.

CrossFit – How Should I Eat?

The CrossFit dietary prescription is as follows:

Follow the “Zone” diet, which concentrates on regulating your insulin.  The basic ratio of carbohydrates to protiens to fats is 40-30-30.  Carbohydrates should be predominantly low-glycemic and account for about 40 % of your total caloric load. Yes, fruits and veggies are carbs, try to stay away from your highly processed refined flours and grains such as pasta, breads, chips, and any sugars.

http://www.zonediet.com/

Also learn how to get started on the zone diet by checking out CrossFit Journal # 21

Try to eat real food. Foods that aren’t processed. This is the basis of a Paleo diet. Click here for a good introduction to the paleo diet . We basically aren’t much different then our caveman ancestors, but our food has changed drastically. Stick with foods that are grow from the earth, or animals that eat the things that grow from the earth. Think of foods that go bad quickly, these are real whole foods. A granola bar isn’t whole food, it’s processed. Raspberries good – swedish berries bad. With a paleo diet, you are more concerned about the quality of your food.

The essentials of the Paleolithic Diet are:

Eat none of the following:

· Grains- including bread, pasta, noodles

· Beans- including string beans, kidney beans, lentils, peanuts, snow-peas and peas

· Potatoes

· Dairy products

· Sugar

· Salt

With Paleo you Eat the following:

· Meat, chicken and fish

· Eggs

· Fruit

· Vegetables (especially root vegetables, but definitely not including potatoes or sweet potatoes)

· Nuts, eg. walnuts, brazil nuts, macadamia, almond. Do not eat peanuts (a bean) or cashews (a family of their own)

· Berries- strawberries, blueberries, raspberries etc.

Try to increase your intake of:

· Root vegetables- carrots, turnips, parsnips, rutabagas, Swedes

· Organ meats- liver and kidneys (I accept that many people find these unpalatable and won’t eat them)

By following these simple rules you will see quicker gains with your fitness and your recovery, and you will also feel much better! Don’t get me wrong I still polish off a tub of ice cream now and then, but all that sugar makes me feel bad, and I don’t do it again for a while. When you are shopping at the grocery store, just try to stay to the outside of the store and you will find most everything you need to eat well.

Eating healthier doesn’t take any longer, it just takes smarter decisions. You body will thank you.

CrossFit Nutritional Lecture Video Library

Nutrition Part I, Robb Wolf …[wmv][mov]
Nutrition Part II, Rob Wolf …[wmv][mov]

Nutrition: Teeter-Totter Pt I, Nicole Carroll .[wmv][mov]

Nutrition: Teeter-Totter Pt II, Nicole Carroll ..[wmv][mov]

Perfume Analogy, CrossFit Nurition Seminar …[wmv][mov]

Zone Multipliers, CrossFit Nutrition Seminar, Robb Wolf…[wmv][mov]

Zone Chronicles, Pat Sherwood …[wmv][mov]
Zone Chronicles: LAX, Pat Sherwood …[wmv][mov]
Zone Chronicles: Normalcy at Home, Pat Sherwood …[wmv][mov]
Zone Chronicles: New Jersey …[wmv][mov]

Insulin Resistance, CrossFit Nutrition Seminar …[wmv][mov]

Refined Carbohydrates, Robb Wolf, CrossFit Nutrition Seminar …[wmv][mov]

Pat Sherwood on the Idiot Suit …[wmv][mov]

I will try to update this with some of the great articles on nutrition from the CrossFit main site or wherever else I can find them. I would suggest that you don’t look at eating this way as a “diet” is is more about making “healthy lifestyle choices”.