This post will be more fun than actual bar review, which I suffered through last summer and sucks a lot. Yuck!

I love bars.  I’ve always loved granola bars, but as I started looking more and more into nutrition I tried to figure out ways to make them work for me.  Here are some criteria I look for in a good bar:

• Not just empty carbs.  A bar should have a fair amount of protein OR a fair amount of fat, both of which keep me fuller than carbs.
• No high fructose corn syrup.
• Pronounceable ingredients. (Sometimes I let this slide for the sake of a protein boost.)
• Not sickly sweet, but still tasty
• A few grams of fiber

Anyway, I consider myself a bar connoisseur.  Here’s a rundown of every bar I’ve ever eaten, the good, the bad, and the ugly!  (I have eaten a LOT of bars, so be warned!)

Clif Bar

Clif bars are a big, thick, hearty bar that are usually pretty calorie dense–240ish calories or so.  I generally eat them split in half for a snack or a whole one for a light breakfast on the go.  I find that they’re good pre-run fuel!  They are heavier on carbs and lower on protein, which is also good for that.  They also come in a handy mini size, which are great purse snacks.  Clif bars are practically indestructible–you can leave them in your purse for months and they’ll still be edible and mostly non-smashed.

Clif bar flavors I’ve tried:

• Chocolate Chip (good! Like a chocolate chip cookie.)
• White Chocolate Macadamia (so-so.  A little sickly sweet for me.)
• Banana Nut (so-so.  Would be great warmed up with peanut butter!)
• Crunchy Peanut Butter (good!  A basic, yummy peanut bar with chunks of peanuts.)
• Chocolate Brownie (Second favorite!)
• Chocolate Chip Peanut Crunch (so-so.  A little too sweet.)
• Chocolate Almond Fudge (LOVE.  This is my favorite flavor.  The almonds keep it from being too sweet.)

Luna Bars

When I was losing weight, I “treated” myself with a Luna Bar for dessert every night.  I loved them!  They are great refrigerated.  They’re a little less calorie dense than a Clif Bar and have more protein (about 180 calories/9 grams of protein per bar).  I burned out on them after about four months of eating one every single day and I’m just now getting to a point where I can eat them again.  Currently, I have the Luna minis in my desk (pictured below)–about 70 calories and perfect for a little bite when you need it.

Luna Bar flavors I’ve tried:

• Nutz over Chocolate (so-so.  The “nutz” part doesn’t take particularly nutty to me.)
• Caramel Nut Brownie (Second favorite!  Has a nice, thick layer of caramel on top.)
• Chocolate Peppermint Stick (good!  Tastes like a Girl Scout Thin Mint.)
• Lemon Zest (Barf.  This is one of few bars I’ve tried, taken a bite, and thrown away instantly.)
• Dulce de Leche (so-so.  Very, very sweet.)
• Peanut Butter Cookie (good! Has a very realistic peanut butter cookie flavor.)
• Iced Oatmeal Cookie (good! If you like cinnamon and raisins, you’d love this.)
• White Chocolate Macadamia (so-so.  Again, I’m just not a white chocolate fan.)
• S’mores (so-so.  I burned out on it.)
• Chocolate Raspberry (Favorite!  Typing this made me wish I had one.  I generally don’t like chocolate and raspberry together, either.)

Clif Builders Bars

These bars are high in calories and high in protein.  I ate them when I was doing lots of heavy weightlifting–3 or 4 days a week–and needed a huge protein boost.  They are very, very good as far as protein bars, but a bit pricey!

Clif Builder’s flavors I’ve tried:

• Chocolate: Probably the best.  Basic, chocolate protein bar.  I like that all these bars have a little crunch to them!
• Peanut butter: Also good.  Has a nice chocolate coating.  The PB flavor is a little fakey though.
• Vanilla almond: Meh.  You’d like these if you liked white chocolate more than I do.

Clif Mojo Bars:

One of the pros of these bars is that they’re generally high in healthy fats from nuts, which I like.  When I track calories, I often find I don’t get enough fat and nuts are the way to go to balance that out.   They are around 200 calories and also have 9-10 grams of protein.  They are more of a trail mix type bar than a granola or protein bar, which is a nice change!

Clif Mojo bar flavors I’ve tried:

• Mountain Mix: A basic trail mix bar with yummy chocolate chips.  This is awesome–pretzels, nuts, raisins and chocolate!
• Peanut Butter and Jelly: This is a new flavor!  The bar is bright purple with a peanut butter coating on the bottom.  It’s really different, but I like it a lot.
• Chocolate Peanut: Also good!

Clif Kids Z Bars

I prefer these bars to regular granola bars any day.  They are soft and chewy and taste incredibly decadent, and have 120-140 calories, a few grams of protein and a few grams of fiber.  They also rate high on the indestructibility scale–I can leave them in my purse, gym bag, or desk for months with minimal damage.

Z Bar Flavors I’ve tried:

• Chocolate Brownie (LOVE!  My favorite.  Chewy and delicious with chocolate chunks)
• Chocolate Chip (Also awesome.  Tastes like a chocolate chip cookie!)
• Blueberry Muffin (Yet again, a winner.  Doesn’t quite taste like a blueberry muffin, but still yummy!)
• Honey Graham (So-so–I like them, but they’re not my favorite.)
• Peanut Butter (Pretty great.  I actually haven’t had a bad Z Bar yet!)

Zone Bars

Zone bars are based on the popular (and surprisingly, reasonable and healthy) Zone diet.  This means that they are 30% protein, 30% fat, and 40% carbs, which many people consider to be a perfect “macro split.”  They usually weigh in around 200 calories, and I like them for a pre-workout snack!  However, these are the most “artificial” tasting of any of the bars I’m reviewing, generally.  I like them, but they’re not my favorite.

Zone Bar flavors I’ve tried:

• Chocolate Mint (yuck.  Not that great.)
• Chocolate Coconut Crunch (Yum!  Probably my favorite.  I’m a sucker for chocolate and coconut together.)
• Chocolate Peanut Butter (So-so.  Very sweet.)
• Double Dark Chocolate (Yum!  Second favorite, probably?)
• Dark Chocolate Almond (also good)
• Chocolate Caramel Crunch (is still in my desk drawer!)

Balance Bars

First off–a bit of a warning.  Some Balance bars contain HFCS, so you have to read the ingredients on each flavor!  I’ve accidentally had a few with it in it, so be careful.  However, I do find these bars to be a really great protein bar with yummy flavors.  They are about 200 calories and have around 15 grams of protein.  They don’t particularly travel well because most of them have some kind of chocolate coating, which melts, and they are soft and smash easily.

Flavors of Balance Bars I’ve tried:

• Almond Brownie (An acquired taste.  I do like them, though!  They are different from most bars and have a very chewy, almost fruit leathery texture.)
• Mocha Chip (I hated this at first but after a few bites I was hooked.  It’s very dark and rich, so if you like that this is a good choice.)
• Peanut Butter (Surprisingly, my favorite!  It’s a PB bar with PB coating and it tastes almost exactly like my aunt’s PB fudge.  If you like PB, this is the bar for you.)
• Chocolate Peanut Butter (So-so.  A pretty basic protein bar.  Nothing special.)
• Cookie Dough (I like these but don’t love them.  They’re really sweet, but do have a pretty good cookie dough flavor!)
• Caramel Nut Blast (Love these.  They taste very, very similar to a Snickers bar!)
• Bare Chocolate Cashew (These are a little different and basically Balance’s equivalent of a Larabar.  I love, love, love these too.  They have much more natural ingredients than most Balance bars and are still yummy and filling.  Thumbs up!)

Larabars

Generally speaking, Larabars are a little low on the protein scale for me and high in carbs and sugar.  But, I like their flavors and I like that they’re totally natural.  They are hard to find in my area for some reason, unfortunately!

Larabar flavors I’ve tried:

• Apple Pie (I don’t remember this one.  Sorry.  I know I’ve had it, though.  That should tell you something.)
• Coconut Cream Pie (I love coconut so I had high hopes, but this was just way too sweet.)
• Cashew Cookie (I like that it features cashews, but it’s pretty boring.)
• Peanut Butter Cookie (So-so.  Pretty bland.)
• Cherry Pie (mouth-puckeringly tart!  Way too much so.)
• Peanut Butter and Jelly (Yum!  Second favorite.  The sweetness of the cherries nicely balances the less sweet flavor of the peanuts.)
• Chocolate Coconut (Favorite!  Again, I’m a sucker for chocolate/coconut combo.)
• Banana Bread (Not bad, would buy again.  Nice to have a banana bar that isn’t fakey tasting.)

Kashi Granola Bars

Kashi granola bars are kind of a lightweight.  They’re about 120-140 calories and usually have 4-6 grams of protein (which is pretty good).  They are not my favorite, BUT they do travel well and I pick them up when they’re on sale to have on hand.  Of note: these are the only bars I’ve found that go stale.  After opening the box, eat them within a month or so.  They get really dry and hard if you don’t!

Kashi bar flavors I’ve tried:

• Peanut Peanut Butter (Like this.  It’s a very light peanut flavor.)
• Chocolate Raspberry (Yum!  Not a big fan of chocolate/raspberry but this is a pretty good combo.)
• Chocolate Coconut (These two are always a winner in my book.)
• Cherry Dark Chocolate (My complaint about this bar is that if there’s no cherry chunk or dark chocolate in your bite, it tastes like nothing.  Otherwise it’s good.)
• Trail Mix  (Blech.  These were totally flavorless.  I threw the box away.)
• Mocha Almond (VERY strong coffee flavor, so if you’re not a coffee lover throw these away!  I liked them but I’m not sure if I’d buy them again.)
• Honey Almond Flax (Good, but these taste quite different from the cereal.)

Okay, I think I’ll go nuts if I review another bar.  I’ve also tried several varieties of the Atkins bars, Pure Protein bars, a Bumble Bar, and a Bear Naked granola bar.  If anyone is dying for a review of any of these bars, let me know and I’ll do a bar review addendum!

One day left to enter my Thankful Tee Giveaway!

What’s your favorite bar?  Anything I should try that I’m missing out on? After reading Susan’s blog the last week, I’m going to pick up a Kind bar next time I see them in stores!

Reading time: 5 mins

I first heard about the ‘Hay diet’ or ‘food combining’ from my parents.  They found that they lost 1lb a week pretty much every week and weren’t eating any less food than normal, just in different combinations.

The idea is that you don’t eat protein and carbohydrate together, and that fruit and veg are neutral.  There are various other elements to it but this is the essence of it.  There are links at the end of the post where you can go and read about the details of the diet in more detail if you want to.*

Proteins are things like meat, egg and dairy products and carbs are things like bread, potatoes, flour, rice, pasta etc.

So what this means is that you shouldn’t have cows milk on your cereal, meat or cheese in your sandwiches or potatoes, rice or pasta with your meat.

When I first heard about the Hay diet I thought that the idea of losing 1lb a week without eating any less food sounded great until I found out these ‘rules’*.  That put me off rather!  After a couple of months and my parents were still losing 1lb a week and working out at what point they were going to stop as they’d reached their ideal weights I decided that it was probably worth giving a go.  I found out that even just applying these techniques to one or two meals a day was worth it although you wouldn’t lose weight quite as fast.

So I found out from my mum what exactly they were eating for their meals and started the following rough plan:-

Breakfast

Soya milk has protein in it but alot less than cows milk, so I have it on my cereal for breakfast.  My first thoughts on this were that I’d tried soya milk before and thought it was foul stuff!  I tried a little bit of my mum’s (unsweetened) and was pleasantly suprised, it was actually quite ok, not just like cows milk but once it was on cereal it was absolutely fine!  One meal sorted

Lunch

I alternate between two sorts of lunches.  I either have a protein one or a carb one, both with loads of salad.  Being as I work from home I’m not keen on taking too much time out to sit and eat ‘doing nothing’ so my first lunch idea works well.  I cut up a whole load of salad bits (cucumber, beetroot, tomato, spring onion) into mouthful sized cubes and combine them in a cereal bowl along with cubed cheese and hard boiled eggs.  Sometimes I drizzle a little bit of salad dressing too.  This is an easy lunch to eat with a fork whilst catching up on emails!

The other lunch is a sandwich one.  3 slices of wholemeal bread (Burgen’s my favourite as it’s low GI too) with salad in it.

Dinner

This I found much harder to come up with meals that I wanted to eat and that fitted in with what the rest of the family are having as I was determined not to start cooking two different meals.

One easy meal is a cooked breakfast but without the fried slice or slice of bread and butter.  I grill the sausages and bacon to cut out the frying as much as possible.  I must admit we still have fried eggs, although one could have them poached instead.

Another one is when having what I think of as an ‘easy meal’ for those days when I choose not to spend so much time preparing food.  On these days I serve something like sausages, burgers or fish in batter to everyone else and have a veggie alternative myself, there’s a growing amount of choice of this sort of food these days and some of them are really nice!

One alternative we tried was quorn and although we found it quite pleasant (in a spag bol type meal) it had rather undesirable effects the next day that changed our minds rather rapidly!  We did try the quorn sausages too just to make sure that’s what had caused it and it was so we’re not adding that to our diet.  Apparently this only happens to some people so it’s well worth the try as it opens up alot of possibilities for meals.

The easiest thing I found to do for a meal was just to do a bit extra veg for myself instead of potatoes, after all potatoes are only another veg themselves.

Conclusion

I’ve also swapped all snacks for fruit too which obviously must make a big difference in weight loss.  I imagine it’s a combination of the food combining and that I’m eating more fruit and veg and less sugary/fatty snacks.  Either way it’s working, I’m eating healthily, losing weight steadily – what more could a girl want?!  I’ve lost 3/4 of a stone at the consistent rate of 1lb a week so I’m very happy

I’ll be posting some ‘Hay Diet’ recipies soon so do subscribe (top right hand corner of page) so that you don’t miss them

I’d love to hear your weight loss stories too!

Related posts:-

How to survive juggling self employed work and school holidays

Awesome stationary that doesn’t cost the earth

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* Read more details about the Hay diet in these two sites.  The diet can be used to help ease digestive problems and many other common ailments as well as being used for weight loss:-

http://www.vitaminuk.com/pages/articles/whatisthehaydiet.htm

http://www.netfit.co.uk/fatcom.htm

Low carbohydrates diet does not give you the required energy to perform tasks and you become tired soon.Food with lot of fiber content may be taken.
Story:
A STUDY has found that although people lose weight on trendy low-carbohydrate diets, they also tend to become worse-tempered than those on low-fat diets.

Low-fat diets work equally well but improve the dieters’ frame of mind.

CSIRO researchers placed 106 overweight people on diets for 12 months, randomly splitting the group between low-fat and low-carb. Researcher Grant Brinkworth and colleagues found a low-calorie, low-fat diet more beneficial to dieters’ moods than low-carb with the same number of calories.
http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,26341739-5003426,00.html

It’s soon time for the wonderful time known as Christmas.  Parties, drinks, family, food, desserts, visiting, baking, cooking, did I mention drinks?

I am going to do project on how to survive the holidays while trying to be healthy.  It will feature what holiday foods to nix, to keep; how to eat around the dinner so you can have a few favourites; how to squeak in workouts so the drinks/food damage can be neutralized; portion control; how to survive parties; etc etc etc.

Let the holidays begin!

November 26, 2009

Dear Diary,

I went to my nutritionist/trainer yesterday.  I was honestly scared because I haven’t been that religious about eating, and have drank a lot lately.  I didn’t gain though, still at 149lbs but I did lose a bit more body fat!

Goals is to not gain over the holidays and to improve body fat.  Maybe to make shakes that can last me all day (balanced, enough for 3 meals).

Also he showed me workouts for when I have no time to get to the gym.

Upperbody: Pushups!  Start with a set of 15.  Rest 30 seconds.  Do a set of 14, rest for 30.  Set of 13, rest for 30 and so on.  Upper body workout in a short time!

Lowerbody: Squats! Set of single leg squats, each leg.  Then wall squats.  Start at a set of 15 with 30 second breaks.  Work down to set of 1 as above.

Intervals: Do a set of pushups, squats, crunch, sprint.  Do for 15 minutes.

Av Lise

Så er det i gang igjen, krangelen om hva man bør spise og hva man ikke bør spise: Mindre karbohydrater eller mindre fett?

I siste utgave av Tidsskrift for den Norske Legeforening går Fedon Lindberg, Dag V. Poleszynzki, Iver Mysterud og Stig Bruset til angrep på norske ernæringsmyndigheter og deres kostholdsanbefalinger. De vil tilbake til steinalderkostholdet med mye fett og lite karbohydrater. 

Alle husker vi den intense debatten som gikk for noen år siden mellom Fedon Lindberg og ernæringsrådet på hvilke kostråd som fremmet bedre helse. Burde vi spise mer eller mindre poteter, ris og pasta. Sett utenfra så det nærmest ut til å være et hatforhold mellom partene, og det var i grunnen bare trist å observere.

Strengt tatt så var vel ikke forskjellene de aller største mellom Fedon og ernæringsrådet. Stort sett så var kostrådene ganske like, men forskjellene om synet på brød og poteter ble slått stort opp i mediene. I høst kunne vi se på NRK Dagsrevyen at Nasjonalt Råd for Ernæring nå er enig med Fedon i at en lavkarbodiett kan være egnet som slankekur. En alltid debattklar Dag V. Poleszynzki ønsker i en artikkel i Mat&Helse naturligvis ernæringsrådet velkommen etter.

Firkløveret mener i artikkelen at vi mennesker fremdeles er mest tilpasset et steinalderkosthold med mye kjøtt, fisk og planter, ikke et kosthold med kornprodukter. De viser til at folkegrupper som fremdeles i dag lever som jegere og sankere ikke sliter med sykdommer som diabetes, overvekt, kreft og hjerte- og karsykdom. Det er vel ikke vanskelig å nikke samtykkende til det siste. Men hadde vi alle sammen klart å leve etter de kostrådene myndighetene gir om mat og fysisk aktivitet, så er det ikke sikkert det hadde stått så galt til med folkehelsa.

Men kan egentlig noen av partene med hånden på hjerte si at de har funnet trylleformelen mot overvekt? Vi blir bare tykkere og tykkere, vi spiser mer og mer sjokolade og salgskurven for frukt og grønnsker har igjen begynt å dale.  Og dette til tross for at det neppe skorter på nok informasjon om sunn mat og helse.

Nå er det nedsatt en nordisk ekspertgruppe som skal revidere de nordiske ernæringsrådene. Kanskje de vil ta evolusjonshistorein med i betraktning slik artikkelforfatterne ønsker. Dette arbeidet skal være ferdig i 2011.

Men mitt stalltips er nok at kostrådene som i dag gjelder i grove trekk også kommer til å bli stående etter 2011. Det er mulig det blir noen små justeringer i retning av mindre karbohydrater og noe mer protein og fett. Men alt i alt så tror jeg nok at vi må belage oss på at ernæringsekspertene kommer til å fortsette diskusjonene også i fremtiden.

Holiday leftovers don’t last long in our homes. Especially the Very Tasty Turkey Salad. (Chicken works well, too.) The trick is starting with a well-seasoned turkey. Stacey’s husband is from the island of Puerto Rico and taught us to make “pavochon,” a turkey seasoned Puerto Rican style that consists of ground garlic cloves, Sazón spices, salt, and extra virgin olive oil. Grind those ingredients with a mortar and pestle, cut slits in the bird and rub the seasoning under the skin, atop the skin and inside the cuts. Let that sit for a day or two before slow roasting the bird in a self-basting turkey oven bag. The key here is LOW and SLOW.

Take leftover pieces of the bird and rip them apart or chop. To taste, add a bit at a time of the following: Dijon mustard, mayonnaise, chopped scallions, a sliced hard-cooked egg or two, diced tomatoes, pepper and salt. There are no rules with Turkey Salad; get creative!

What are you doing with your leftovers? Please share your ideas with other readers!

How Stacey Got the Shot: On the dining room table with natural light and foam core set up to bounce light onto the subject and fill in shadows. ISO 100, focal length 50mm, f/4, 1/100 second exposure.

There is a large protein shampoo, I use it about once a week, followed by a moisturizing conditioner. Helps keep my hair strong, and I do not seem to have as many split ends, even if I straighten my hair.

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Kom just hem från ett ljuvligt träningspass. I och med den ljuvligheten också en återställare i enlighet med allmänna normer. (På bilden till höger)

Fundera idag i gymmet med en broder i lyftarskapet på hur mycket mat man egentligen behöver äta om man vill få ut mera av sin träning än god kondition.

Vi kom inte till någon egentlig slutsats annat än att man absolut inte ska äta för lite..

Mjölksyran börjar lägga sig, och doften av färskt gräddat batongbröd når min näsa vilket får mig att tänka på vad man skulle kunna äta en afton som denna, en afton då den utav avgaser fyllda kvällsluften gjort  sitt för att förkorta vårt redan, ack, så korta liv.

Hmm. Blev lite negativ där på slutet. Kanske mitt undermedvetnas sätt att tala om för hela världen att leva sitt liv till det fullaste.

Sub-conscious says: Carpe Diem!

It’s been a great year for me, and I’m very grateful for you being a part of that success. This week being Thanksgiving I want to make sure I’m showing you how grateful I am.

But before I do…

Let’s get serious for a moment. You’re going to eat a LOT of food this Thursday. You know it. I know it. And that’s ok. I’m sure you’ve been working out just a little bit harder to prepare for it, right? And I know you’re going to get a good workout in on Thursday before you chow down, right?

Now, besides that, I also want to remind you one thing you do NOT want to do on Thursday is skip meals so you can stuff yourself with one big one. That’s a no-no.

You still need to start your day right by boosting your metabolism with a solid breakfast. So to help you out with that I’ve got a gift for you from me and my buddies over at Prograde Nutrition. It’s a delicious Protein Pancakes recipe.

Thanks to the protein in the recipe your blood sugar won’t go crazy like it can just by eating a huge stack of pancakes with sugary syrup. Nope, this recipe will fill you up, nourish your body and give your metabolism just the boost it needs.

You can get the Protein Pancakes recipe here.
Be sure to let me know how you like it.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Memré Savant
PS – Seriously, have a nutritious breakfast this Thursday and your body will thank your for it on Friday.

http://fitnesssavant.getprograde.com/prograde-pancake-recipe.html

This is one recipe that I really love. Friends and family are always asking me to make it for big and small gatherings. Easy on the budget and packed with goodness, it’s best when made with love, tastes even better the next day and it freezes well. A special treat served with Corn Bread or Bannock.

2 C. dried kidney beans (substitute pinto, romano, Jacob’s cattle or other big beans, or mix 3 or 4 together)

water

1 or 2 onions, chopped

2 cloves garlic (or 2 tsp. Garlic powder)

oil or fat for frying

1/2 – 1 pound ground beef (or use TVP – see below)

3-4 T. chili powder

2-3 T. cumin

1 T. dried coriander (cilantro), or 1/2 C. fresh

1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper (optional, add 2 or 3 times as much for a hot, spicy chili)

dash of cinnamon

large can crushed tomatoes (2 1/2 cups fresh)

1 tsp. brown sugar

2 T. vinegar (white, red wine, apple cider or balsamic)

small can peaches in light syrup (optional)

salt and pepper to taste

Soak the beans in water about 2-3 inches above the beans in a non-metal bowl for 6-8 hours or overnight. Discard the soaking water, add beans to a large pot and cover with fresh water an inch or two above the beans. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until the beans are soft (1 1/2 to 3 hours).

Cook the ground beef (or dry fry the TVP) until nicely browned and crumbled, set aside. Sauté the onions in a little oil until soft, then add cooked beef, garlic and spices and cook covered, for 5 more minutes. Add the meat mixture, tomatoes, brown sugar, vinegar and peaches to the beans and stir well. Cover and simmer over low heat for at least an hour to let the flavors blend, stirring occasionally to prevent burning; this is a good recipe to cook all day in a slow cooker or in the oven. Serve over rice.

Suggestions: Vegetarians and Vegans can substitute TVP dry-roasted with cumin for the ground meat to give a meaty texture and lots more protein. Offer crushed red pepper or Tabasco sauce at the table for people who like hot chili.

Hints: The beans will be more digestible if you add a piece of seaweed (kombu or dulse) to the beans while they cook, or you can add 1/2 tsp. baking soda to the soaking water to make the beans less “gassy”.

Time saver: For a quick chili, use 2 or 3 large cans of cooked kidney beans.

Note: Because this is such a good winter meal, we planned to make you a video of this recipe not too long ago when Brian and I were both in Toronto… didn’t work out. We will be getting to that asap, so stay tuned!

Much love, All My Relations, Gramma Willi

Good Clean Food For Everyone!

I had a conversation with a friend a while back. Really intelligent guy. He stated, “Nutrition is about getting enough enough nutrients to meet your goals without getting you fat.” Pretty simple but not always to apply. Today, we are gonna talk about your time in the kitchen and how this is the biggest component of your life process.

The best training schemes in the world will be ineffective with the correct nutrients. Think about cars for a second. If you put cheap fuel into a high performance race car what is gonna happen? Well the car might run but not even close to what is optimal. That is the key word today: optimal.

I do think that most of your nutrients should come from whole foods. I know some think organic is the way to go. I am not TOTALLY sold on that but I do see the perspective on why someone might go organic. Always buy what you can afford first. If you feel you are not able to get enough nutrients in with just food (AND NOT EXCUSES) then you supplement with sources that are available and sensible.

Protein is something that I think is too high in the competitive athletes diet. Carbs are something that CAN be too low. And essential fats are often totally ignored. I plan on going into some detail to give you some points to consider for living a healthy, active life whether a pilates pro or wannabe bodybuilder.

Protein should start for everyone at 1 gram per pound of body weight. So if you weigh 180 lbs you should start with 180 grams of protein a day. This is the starting point for everyone. I do think that regardless of the person you should have this ration AT LEAST. Next to water, protein is the most abundant compound in the body. Egg protein is my favorite for the quality. A whey isolate digests quickly so its great for the first meal of the day and right after training. The rest of the day can be varied sources.

Carbs are something that can be a little complicated. Some people think they are evil but really they are just misused. Carbs can digest really fast to really slow. Normally you want something that is slow in digestion to keep from roller coaster energy levels and sugar spikes that can make you fat. Learn about the glycemic index and how that can impact your health. I suggest that most get at least half their body weight in carbs. That is a starting point to add or subtract based on your goals. Be sure to add a lot of alkaline foods to your diet as well.

Fats are an essential resource as well. Really if anything is the enemy it would be carbs over fats. Obviously if you ate things loaded with saturated fats it would be a little different. I am talking about fish oils, all natural peanut butter, flax and avocados. Fats can be a great snack and energy source but they are really dense in calories so it doesn’t take much to overdo it. The suggested amounts are specific to the total calories. I think 20-30% of your calories should come from fats.

Don’t forget your water! Drinking plenty of water aids in the digestion of nutrients, how efficiently those nutrients are transported to the cells, and how well the cells absorb them. One of water’s most important roles is to flush the dangerous toxins out of our bodies. Every function of the human body will be compromised on a systemic level when you don’t drink enough water.

Water helps you get the most value from your supplements as well. Water helps with the utilization of all the water-soluble vitamins and minerals your body needs to survive. If a person is not getting significant results from creatine, which in my opinion is one the most effective legal supplements of the market, I would surmise they are not drinking enough water to take advantage of the hydration effect that occurs (for most of us).

Now let’s put it together….

Before calculating the percentages of each macronutrient (protein, carbohydrates, and fat) make up of your total food intake, you must know the calorie conversion of each of them. A calorie is a unit to state the heat content of food. In simple terms, what energy is needed to “burn up” that type of food.

Calorie Conversion

One gram of protein is equal to 4 calories.

One gram of carbohydrate is equal to 4 calories.

One gram of fat is equal to 9 calories.

FYI: One gram of alcohol is equal to 7 calories.

If you want 55 percent of the 2,500 calories you’ve allowed yourself for the day to come from protein, simply multiply 2,500 by .55. That means 1,375 of your 2,500 calories would come from protein. If you divide those 1,375 calories by 4 (the amount of grams one calorie of protein is equal to), you’ll determine that you need 343.75 grams of protein every day.

If you eat eight meals a day and feel you should distribute protein evenly throughout the day, each of those eight meals would consist of about 43 grams.

If you want 30 percent of the 2,500 calories you’ve allowed yourself for the day to come from carbohydrates, multiply 2,500 by .30. Which means 750 of your 2,500 calories would come from carbohydrates. If you divide those 750 calories by 4 (the amount of grams one calorie of carbohydrate is equal to), you’ll determine that you need 187.5 grams of carbohydrates every day.

If you eat eight meals a day and feel you should distribute your carbohydrates evenly throughout the day, each of those eight meals would consist of about 25 grams.

If you want 15 percent of the 2,500 calories you’ve allowed yourself for the day to come from fat, multiply 2,500 by .15. Which means 375 of your 2,500 calories would come from fat. If you divide those 375 calories by 9 (the amount of grams one calorie of fat is equal to), you’ll determine that you need about 42 grams of fat every day.

If you eat eight meals a day and feel you should distribute your fat evenly throughout the day, each of those eight meals would consist of about 5 grams.

Notice the totals of 42 grams of protein, 25 grams of carbohydrates, and 5 grams of fat that we determined each meal will consist of are very close to the nutritional breakdown of a typical meal replacement. You can check your work by adding the amount of calories you have determined for each of the macronutrients are equal to the daily total of calories for the day in this manner:

Total protein (55%) = 1,375

Total carbohydrates (30%) = 750

Total fat (15%) = 375

Total calories for the day = 2,500

Finally, reward yourself! Putting together a structured plan is worth it when you plan for cheat meals. Always schedule in advance the days that you’ll stray or “cheat” from your well-planned and structured bodybuilding diet—instead of arbitrarily doing so. You’ll feel more successful, in control, and dedicated. You’ll become more determined to make it to the “finish line” after you’ve put together a stretch of days exhibiting outstanding discipline. You will enjoy the “not-so-healthy” meal (or meals) even more and with less guilt because you know you’ve earned that indulgence.

On yesterday’s post was a good comment made by Jeff(or Jon or whatever name he used this time ) about the processed foods I eat, saying that aren’t I being a hypocrite with how I present myself? I say: No. I do eat processed food. And I love it. And I can, because the processed food I choose doesn’t conflict at all with my all-natural ingredient diet. A mint Newman-O is just as processed as a mint Oreo, but I’ll gladly chow down on the former whereas I won’t touch the latter. Of course, I completely expect some people to think this is absurd and not see a distinction, but I very much do and that is what shapes what I eat. I definitely think Jeff’s comment was a good one as it gave me the opportunity to share this all about me. And I was touched by how many of you replied in defence of this distinction I make It reminded me of how I have some of the best readers in the world. Oh, and while I’m publically responding to comments–Food Makes Fun Fuel is a blog written by a guy. Rare in blogworld, I know, but true.

That’s not to say I never eat raw foods, though, like this apple I grabbed before class:

Apple

Then again, this was pretty nasty and old and by the time I finished I wished I had something more processed. Thankfully, coffee washed it down and I picked up a new bar to try later that I’d been eyeing. In class we got yet another end-of-semester paper. If I didn’t use Google Tasks and Google Calender to keep track of things like this, I’d be very frightened right now. But I’m not. That apple, as bad as it was, held me over well through class and blog reading, to the point where I was making a lunch to eat in Greek History. It came in two parts.

Broccoli And 2 Eggs Scrambled With 2 Lightlife Sausage Links

2% Chobani With Raspberry Chocolate Jam

For the “main course” I scrambeled 2 eggs with the last 2 of my new, favorite processed not-meat and microwaved that until most of the liquid was set–so good! I loved the spicy sausage in the egg with a little salt. For “dessert”, I sweetened the 2% Chobani a little and topped it with jam; the 2% are really hard to find but they’re soo good. Full fats a bit too much, but plain’s a bit… plain :-/ This is a great compromise. This meal had over 40g of protein. I don’t really track that for the most part, but sometimes I like to check for kicks and giggles, and that impressed me.

Class 1 was dull. Class 2 was duller. I had to take the escalator with my teacher. She’s nice but that’s always a bit awkward. She also smokes everyday before class so that was a bit nauseating to be in close-quarters with. After class I wasn’t quite ready to go back to my dorm and finish up some work, so I didn’t

Blue State Coffee At The Book Store

I know I’m not alone in loving book stores and coffee on really rainy days. Last year, one of my classes was a good mile down Comm Ave in Boston from where I had been picked up normally, so on nasty weather days I just went to Barnes And Nobles and waited for a ride to come to me. I also got a message while I was moseying saying my dinner plans were not. Not ideal, but much better than learning this at 6. Eventually, I hobbled back to my dorm. I got a bit peckish and broke out that new bar I mentioned.

Chocolate Chip Trail Mix Odwalla

I like the idea of trail mix, but I don’t like how clumsy it is. I like bars. So I had good hopes for this. In the end, it was good, but didn’t blow me away; it reminded me of a Clif mountain mix Mojo, except with an oat base instead of soy protein, and a little less nuts. Since I get plenty of oats on a regular basis, I think I prefer the Mojo because of the protein. Otherwise, this was decent. Speaking of getting enough oats…

Pumpkin Oats With Vanilla Almond Butter And Vanilla Powder

I wasn’t feeling like anything extravagant, per say, so instead I kept it pretty vanilla. Vanilla, in my book, is quite tasty I think I listened to all my Bing Crosby Christmas songs at least once while catching up on television. I watched 2 episodes and I still have a good 10 left. I guess I slipped on that last week. I have to say I was a bit happy when dinner was called off; it was pouring last night and I was happy to be in PJ’s a bit early. It also let me have a go at this cornucopia:

Acorn Squash With Macarroni And Cheese With Tuna

Yum! It tasted as delicious as it looks. It’s amazing what you can make with canned tuna and a single serve mac n’ cheese packet. I had a lovely tofu dinner planned but this salty mess stole my mind and the show. The acorn squash was perfect steamed in the microwave in a bowl of shallow water for 5 minutes and let rest.

I loved Heroes last night for some reason. It totally dragged me back in to the season where it lost me. I think I’m a bigger fan of Claire’s story line at the time than anyone else’s. Afterwards I had a snack.

Peanut Butter Yogurt With Strawberry Jam And Chocolate Chips

I wasn’t sure if the strawberry, peanut butter, and chocolate chip would work in sync. What was I worried about? This was delicious. I just love the crunch of whole chocolate chips, and the strawberry was a nice sweetness to the sweet-but-not-too-sweet yogurt. Because I foresee questions on this, peanut butter yogurt is 6oz plain greek yogurt with 2 tablespoons Byrd Mill peanut flour(PB2 also works for this) and vanilla liquid stevia. It has a slightly nutty flavor and packs a protein punch. I think The Big Bang Theory was also great last night–what a good ball comedy. To the Jay Leno show, I finished the night with this.

Pumpkin Oatmeal With Mighty Maple And Chocolate Chips, 3/4 Cup Silk Nog

I like to think I have some restraint around Silk Nog. Mighty Maple and chocolate chips, on the other hand… I need to remember to pack that today because it’s clearly one of my favorite nut butters and yet we don’t have one at home! Shame. While watching Leno, I came to the conclusion that, while Lady Gaga is fun to run to, she’s a scary scary person to watch perform. Not Adam Lambert scary, but still. Now I could definitely picture him opening for her.

This morning I hit the snooze twice and felt totally rejuvenated after my morning routine. Seriously, why didn’t I feel this good yesterday morning? I wasn’t particularly hungry, but I grabbed this bar knowing it would make my workout that much more amazing.

Amazing Grass Whole Food Energy Bar

It must have worked because my running felt so strong. Seriously, where was this energy yesterday? I planned for 10 miles, and ended up doing 13.1 in 1:51:02. I easily could have done the 15 I wanted except for time restraints; I can’t wait until next semester when, no matter which schedule I end up with, that won’t be an issue Monday, Wednesday, or Friday! Even more shockingly, I wasn’t feeling very “sweet” for breakfast. All I wanted was something spicy!

Oats With An Egg, Morningstar Breakfast Patty, And The Heat Is On PB

Pumpkin Pie Yogurt

I decided to do oats that Green Dog Wine would be proud of These set my mouth on fire with The Heat Is On. And the processed breakfast patty was the perfect protein touch to compliment it all Lol. I jest, because if you can’t make fun of yourself, who can you make fun of? The yogurt was more of a thing of convenience, as in, it’s convenient that I don’t have to take home 2 tubs of yogurt because I dumped what was left of them in there with some pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg, and liquid vanilla stevia.

I’m currently employing the throw-everything-on-the-bed method again for when I go home today!! Ok, that might be a tad more exciting if I didn’t have to go home this past weekend for the party, but still it’s pretty fun when it’s for 5 days. Later on I have a nut butter review to share with all of you  :-)

Did you know that a 4-ounce serving of turkey breast contains only 1 gram of fat and is the leanest type of meat you can include in your diet?

It is easy to reduce the fat content of turkey because most of it resides in the skin, which can be easily removed. By including a serving of turkey as part of your Healthiest Way of Eating, you will not only be reducing your fat intake, but fulfilling 65% of your daily value for protein! Protein is a key building block not only for structural tissues, but also for immune defense cells, and it is involved in just about every other physiological function in your body.

Turkey also provides 47% of the daily value for selenium (a powerful antioxidant co-factor that helps protect against the damage to cell structure and DNA caused by free radicals), as well as many of the B vitamins, which are essential for energy production.

So, sharing your Thanksgiving meal with family and friends also means sharing a wealth of health-promoting benefits with those you love!

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Ein einziges Eiweißmolekül löst unangenehmen Körpergeruch bei schwitzenden Menschen aus. Alle geruchsbildenden Schweißbestandteile werden von diesem Transportprotein an die Hautoberfläche befördert, fanden Wissenschaftler des Forschungszentrums der Beiersdorf AG in Hamburg heraus. Die Ergebnisse seien im Fachblatt «Journal of Investigative Dermatology» (online) veröffentlicht, teilte der Kosmetikkonzern mit. Erst an der Hautoberfläche werden die Schweißbestandteile durch Bakterien zerlegt. Dabei entstehen Stoffe, die den typischen Geruch ausmachen.

Die Forscher entdeckten bei ihren Untersuchungen zum Schwitzen einen entscheidenden Genunterschied zwischen Asiaten und Europäern. Je nach regionaler Herkunft tritt bei 30 bis 100 Prozent der asiatischen Bevölkerung kein ausgeprägter Körpergeruch auf. Eine Vorliebe für wenig riechende Partner erscheine als plausible Erklärung für die bemerkenswerte Verbreitung dieser Genvariante in Asien.

ENZIM,
Penjelasan singkat dan aplikasinya dalam industri makanan dan minuman

Oleh : Wawan Agustina, S.Si
Balai Besar Pengembangan Teknologi Tepat Guna
Lembaga Ilmu Pengetahuan Indonesia
e-mail : wan_agustina@yahoo.co.id

A. Pendahuluan

Enzim merupakan senyawa berstruktur protein yang dapat berfungsi sebagai katalisator dan dikenal sebagai biokatalisator. Enzim berperan sebagai katalisator yang mengkatalisis reaksi-reaksi kimia yang terjadi dalam sistem biologis. Enzim dapat mengkatalisis sebuah reaksi yang secara reaksi kimia biasa tidak mungkin terjadi dan seperti halnya katalisator biasa, enzim juga tidak ikut bereaksi atau pun terurai menjadi produk reaksi.

Enzim dapat diperoleh dari sel-sel hidup dan dapat bekerja baik untuk reaksi-reaksi yang terjadi di dalam sel maupun di luar sel. Pemanfaatan enzim untuk reaksi-reaksi yang terjadi di luar sel Sekarang banyak diaplikasikan dalam dunia industri seperti industri makanan, detergen, penyamakan kulit, kosmetik, dll. Pemanfaatan enzim dapat dilakukan secara langsung menggunakan enzim hasil isolasi maupun dengan cara pemanfaatan mikroorganisme yang dapat menghasilkan enzim yang diinginkan.

B. Sumber-Sumber Enzim

Enzim dapat diperoleh dari makhluk hidup seperti hewan dan tumbuhan selain itu sumber enzim yang saat ini sangat dikenal dan banyak dimanfaatkan adalah mikroorganisme. Beberapa contoh enzim seperti bromelin sebagai protease bersumber dari tumbuhan yaitu nanas, papain sebagai protease dari pepaya, lisozim dari putih telur dan lain sebagainya. Meskipun banyak sumber enzim yang berasal dari hewan dan tumbuhan, namun sekarang pemanfaatan mikroorganisme sebagai sumber enzim lebih banyak diminati karena beberapa alasan. Adapun alasan-alasan tersebut antara lain, bahwa enzim dari mikroorganisme bisa dihasilkan dalam waktu yang sangat singkat bahkan dalam hitungan jam, proses produksinya bisa dikontrol, kemungkinan terkontaminasi oleh senyawa-senyawa lain lebih kecil, area produksi tidak harus luas, dan lain sebagainya.
Menurut (Agustina, 2004) ada berbagai macam enzim yang digunakan secara komersial berasal dari jaringan tumbuhan, hewan, dan mikroorganisme yang terseleksi. Beberapa contoh enzim yang berasal dari hewan antara lain tripsin, rennet, lipase, dan kemotripsin. Selain dari hewan ada beberapa contoh yang bersumber dari tanaman seperti aktinidin, alfa amilase, beta amilase, bromelin, dan papain.

C. Sifat-sifat Kimiawi dan fisik Enzim
Enzim sebagai suatu senyawa yang berstruktur protein baik murni maupun tergabung dengan gugusan-gugusan kimiawi lainnya memiliki sifat yang sama dengan protein lain yaitu dapat terdenaturasikan oleh panas, terpresipitasikan / terendapkan oleh senyawa-senyawa organik cair seperti ethanol dan aseton juga oleh garam-garam organik berkonsentrasi tinggi seperti ammonium sulfat, dan memiliki bobot molekul yang relatif besar sehingga tidak dapat melewati membran semi permeabel atau tidak dapat terdialisis.

Beberapa jenis enzim tidak memerlukan komponen lain atau tambahan untuk mencapai aktivitasnya, namun ada beberapa enzim memerlukan molekul non protein lainnya yang biasanya terikat kuat dengan molekul proteinnya. Molekul lain lain yang terikat dalam enzim tersebut dinamakan sebagai kofaktor. Kofaktor dapat berupa senyawa anorganik seperti ion-ion logam ( Mg2+, Mn2+, Fe2+, Zn2+, dsb), selain itu juga dikenal adanya istilah koenzim, koenzim adalah senyawa organik dengan bobot molekul rendah yang terikat pada bagian protein enzim. Sedangkan proteinnya sendiri dinamakan apoenzim. Enzim akan menjadi aktif apabila Apoenzim bergabung atau berikatan dengan kofaktor atau koenzim.

Molekul-molekul enzim merupakan katalis yang sangat efisien dalam mempercepat pengubahan substrat menjadi produk-produk akhir. Menurut Pelczar and Chan, 1986, satu molekul enzim tunggal dapat melakukan pengubahan sebanyak seribu molekul substrat perdetik. Kenyataan ini sekaligus menjelaskan bahwa molekul enzim tidak dikonsumsi ataupun mengalami perubahan selama proses reaksi berlangsung. Namun demikian ada bebrapa hal yang perlu diperhatikan bahwa enzim tidaklah stabil aktivitasnya dapat berkurang atau bahkan menghilang oleh berbagai pengaruh baik kondisi fisik maupun kimia seperti suhu, pH, dan lain sebagainya. Ada dua ciri yng mencolok dari enzim yaitu (1) efisiensi katalitiknya yang tinggi dan (2) derajat kekhususannya (spesifitas) yang tinggi terhadap substrat tertentu.

D. Spesifitas Enzim
Enzim dalam kerjanya sebagai katalis biasanya memilki kespesifikan, yaitu bahwa enzim hanya bekerja untuk substrat khusus atau tertentu saja, namun demikian ada juga yang bekerja pada bermacam-macam jenis substrat.
Ada dua model yang menjelaskan tentang mekanisme kerja enzim terkait kespesifikannya terhadap substrat yaitu :
a. Model Kunci dan Gembok (Lock and Key)
Model ini diajukan oleh Emil Fischer pada tahun 1894 yang menjelaskan bahwa enzim dan substrat memiliki bentuk yang saling memenuhi seperti kunci dan gemboknya bentuknya kaku dan tetap (tidak berubah-ubah)
Contoh mekanisme reaksi dalam gambar :

Gambar 1. Mekanisme reaksi enzim model lock and key

b. Model Ketepatan Induksi (Induced-fit)
Model Ketepatan Induksi merupakan modifikasi model kunci dan gembok yang diajukan oleh Daniel Koshland pada tahun 1958. Ia menjelaskan oleh karena enzim memiliki struktur yang fleksibel, sehingga sisi aktifnya dapat secara terus menerus berubah bentuk sesuai interaksinya dengan substrat. Akibatnya, substrat tidak berikatan dengan sisi aktif yang kaku. Rantai-rantai samping asam amino dapat berubah sesuai dengan substrat dan mengijinkan enzim untuk menjalankan fungsi katalitiknya.
Contoh mekanisme reaksi dalam gambar :

Gambar 2. Mekanisme reaksi enzim model Induced-fit

E. Faktor-faktor yang mempengaruhi Aktivitas Enzim
Enzim sebagai biokatalisator berstruktur protein dalam mekanisme kerjanya aktiitasnya dipengaruhi oleh beberapa faktor yaitu antara lain, pH, Suhu, konsentrasi substrat, konsentrasi enzim, kehadiran aktiator atau inhibitor.
a. pH (Derajat Keasaman)
pH merupakan salah satu faktor penting yang harus diperhatikan apabila kita bekerja dengan enzim, hal ini dikarenakan enzim hanya mau dan mampu bekerja pada kondisi pH tertentu saja. Suatu kondisi pH di mana enzim dapat bekerja dengan aktivitas tertinggi yang dapat dilakukannya dinamakan dengan pH optimum. Sebaliknya pada pH tertentu enzim sama sekali tidak lagi aktif atau bahkan rusak. Hal ini dapat dijelaskan karna kita ketahui bahwa enzim merupakan molekul protein, molekul protein kesetabilannya dapat dipengaruhi oleh tingkat keasaman lingkungannya, pada kondisi keasaman yang ekstrim molekul-molekul protein dari enzim akan rusak.
b. Suhu / Temperatur
Seperti halnya oleh pH, aktivitas kerja enzim juga dipengaruhi oleh temperatur lingkungan dimana ia bekerja. Seperti reaksi kimia biasa suhu biasanya dapat mempercepat proses reaksi, namun demikian pada titik suhu tertentu kecepatan reaksi yang dikatalisis oleh enzim akan mulai menurun bahkan aktivitasnya tidak lagi nampak. Kondisi suhu di mana enzim dapat menghasilkan aktivitas tertinggi dinamakan suhu atau temperatur optimum. Oleh karena enzim berstruktur protein, sebagaimana kita ketahui bahwa protein dapat dirusak oleh panas, sehingga pada suhu tinggi tertentu aktivitas enzim mulai menurun dan bahkan aktiitasnya menghilang. Hal ini sangat dimungkinkan karena terjadinya denaturasi atau kerusakan struktur protein oleh pengaruh panas. Panas yang berlebihan akan menybabkan terjadinya kerusakan struktur enzim yang dapat menybabkan kerusakan enzim baik secara keseluruhan maupun sebagian terutama sisi aktifnya.

c. Konsentrasi Substrat
Reaksi-reaksi biokimia yang diktalisis oleh enzim diperngaruhi pula oleh jumlah substrat. Jika kita melakukan pengujian konsentrasi substrat dari rendah ke tingi terhadap kecepatan reaksi enzimatis, maka pada awalnya akan diperoleh hubungan kesebandingan yang menyatakan kecepatan reaksi akan mkeningkat seiring dengan meninkatnya konsentrasi substrat, namun kemudian akan diperoleh data yang menyatakan pada konsentrasi substrat tinggi tertentu kecepatan reaksi tidak lagi bertambah. Pada kondisi ini konsentrasi substrat menjadi jenuh dan kecepatan reaksi menjadi maksimum yang sering juga disebut sebaai kecepatan maksimum (Vmax).
Hubungan antara konsentrasi substrat dan kecepatan reaksi biasanya dinyatakan dengan konstanta Michelis-Menten (KM). Nilai KM didefinisikan sebagai konsentrasi substrat tertentu pada saat kecepatan reaksi enzimatis mencapai setengah dari kecepatan maksimumnya. Hubungan tersebut dapat digambarkan dalam sebuah kurva yang dikenal sebaai Kurva Michelis-Menten seperti contoh pada ambar berikut :

Gambar 3. Kurva hubungan antara konsentrasi substrat dan kecepatan reaksi

d. Konsentrasi Enzim
Peningkatan konsentrasi enzim dalam suatu reaksi biokimia akan meningkatkan kecepatan kecepatan reaksi yang dikatalisisnya.

Gambar 4. Kurva Hubungan antara konsentrasi enzim dan kecepatan reaksi

e. Kehadiran aktivator/inhibitor.
Aktivator adalah zat atau senyawa yang dapat menyebabkan meninkatnya aktiitas enzim apabila ia berada pada saat terjadinya reaksi, dan sebaliknya inhibitor adalah zat yang dapat menghambat aktivitas reaksi.

F. Peran enzim dalam metabolisme
Metabolisme merupakan sekumpulan proses-proses reaksi kimia yang terjadi atau berlangsung pada makhluk hidup untuk menjaga kelangsungan hidupnya. Reaksi-reaksi dalam peoses metabolisme dapat dikategorikan menjadi dua proses utama yaitu meliputi :
(1) Proses sintesis molekul besar menjadi molekul yang lebih kecil (anabolisme)
(2) Proses Penyusunan molekul besar dari molekul yang lebih kecil (katabolisme).

G. Aplikasi Enzim dalam Industri makanan dan Minuman
Dalam bidang bioteknologi enzim merupakan salah satu produk yang banyak digunakan atau diaplikasikan untuk keperluan industri seperti industri makanan, minuman, farmasi, kosmetik dan lain sebagainya. Dalam industri makanan atau minuman enzim banyak digunakan untuk menghasilkan atau meningkatkan kualitas dan keanekaragaman produk. Beberapa contoh produk yang memanfaatkan enzim seperti keju, yoghurt, dan lain sebagainya (Philips, 2009). Beberapa contoh jenis enzim yang umum dan banyak digunakan dalam industri makanan dan minuman antara lain :

a. Rennet
Rennet adalah enzim yang digunakan dalam proses pembuatan keju (cheese) yang terbuat dari bahan dasar susu. Susu adalah cairan yeng tersusun atas protein yang terutama kasein yang dapat mempertahankan bentuk cairnya. Rennet merupakan kelompok enzim protease yang ditambahkan pada susu pada saat proses pembuatan keju. Rennet berperan untuk menghidrolisis kasein terutama kappa kasein yan berfungsi mempertahankan susu dari pembekuan. Enzim yang paling umum yang diisolasi dari rennet adalah chymosin. Chymosin dapat diisolasi dari beberapa jenis binatang, mikroba atau sayuran, akan chymosin yang berasal dari mikroorganisme lokal atau asli yang belum mendapat rekayasa gebetik kadang aplikasinya dalam pembuatan keju atau cheddar menjadi kurang efektif.

b. Laktase
Lactase adalah enzim likosida hidrolase yang berfungsi untuk memecah laktosa menjadi gula penyusunnya yaitu glukosa dan galaktosa. Tanpa suplai atau produksi enzim laktase yang cukup dalam usus halus, akan menyebabkan terjadinya lactose intolerant yang mengakibatkan rasa tidak nyaman diperut seperti kram, banyak buang gas, atau diare) dalam saluraqn cerna selama proses pencernaan produk-produk susu. Secara komersial laktase digunakan untuk menyiapkan produk-produk bebas laktosa seperti susu. Ini juga dapat digunakan untuk membuat es krim untuk membuat cream dan rasa produk yang lebih manis. Laktase biasanya diisolasi dari yeast (Kluyveromyces sp.) dan fungi (Aspergillus sp.).

c. Katalase
Katalase adalah enzim yang dapat diperoleh dari hati sapi (bovine livers) atau sumber microbial. Dan digunakan untuk mengubah hydrogen peroksida menjadi air dan molekul oksigen. Enzim ini digunakan secara terbatas pada proses produksi keju.

d. Lipases
Lipase digunakan untuk memecah atau menghidrolisis lemak susu dan memberikan flavour keju yang khas. Flavour dihasilkan oleh karena adanya asam lemak bebas yang diproduksi ketika lemak susu dihidrolisis. Selain pada industri engolahan susu juga pada industri lainnya.

e. Protease
Protease adalah enzim yang berfungsi untuk menghidrolisis ikatan peptida dari senyawa-senyawa protein dan diurai menjadi senyawa lain yang lebih sederhana (asam amino). Contoh protease yang dapat dimanfaatkan adalah bromelin danpapain sebagai bahan pengempuk daging.

f. Amilase
Amilase merupakan enzim yang berfungsi untuk menghidrolis amilum (pati) menjadi gula-gula sederhana seperti dekstrin dan glukosa. Enzim amilase dapat digunakan dalam proses pembuatan biskuit, minuman beralkohol, dan pembuatan sirup glukosa.
Daftar Pustaka

Agustina, W. 2004. Pemanfaatan Bacillus licheniformis sebagai Bakteri Penghasil Enzim Protease dengan Medium Tepung Biji Amaranth. PS MIPA Unsoed, Purwokerto.
Anonim, 2009, Enzim, www.Wikipedia.com
Anonim, Production Of Industrial enzyme in Fermentation.
Pelczar, M.J., dan Chan, E.C.S, 1986 Dasar-dasar Mikrobiologi. Penerjemah : R.S. Hadioetomo, dkk. UI Press. Jakarta.
Phillip, T, 2009, Enzymes Used in the Dairy Industry, www.About.com
Widiati, H.S., 200, Isolasi, Pemurnian dan Penentuan beberapa sifat protease dari Pseudomonas cocovenenans B-154 yan difraksinasi dengan garam ammonium sulfat. Skripsi PS MIPA Unsoed, Purwokerto

Chocolates, biscotti, pies and cakes….Holiday’s are for enjoying food, family and fun! Yet our biggest weight gain can occur during the 5 weeks of festivites, for a total of 7 pounds!  We are then reminded, that the party is over,January 2, when the moment of truth hits and one decisively chooses to go on a “diet”.   While new diets that apply calorie shifting are given multiple glances and serioulsy put into consideration, it’s important to remember that the word “diet” is about lifestyle and how one eats on a daily basis.

Five tips are easy to follow in order to shift caloric intake and to make sure that access weight gain is headed off at the pass.

Tip 1.      Begin the day with a breakfast.
Protein such as an egg,
Slice of wheat bread
Fruit
Green or White Tea’s (proven to promote anti-aging due to high phenolic content)
Glass of milk
This is an old trick that helps to fill up the stomach so that less food is consumed throughout the morning. You may even feel the need to have a lighter lunch as well.

Tip 2.      Consume calcium for your snacks. Your body needs to be supplied with calcium for both muscles and bones. Weightgain has been linked to low intake of calcium intake. Example: Three glasses of milk can replace any choice of fluid. Many do not realize how many other foods have calcium. Flaxseed actually contains the highest amount at 40% of dietary intake. Almonds and milk contain the same amount of calcium for dietary intake at 25%. 3 ounces of Almonds = 8 ounces of milk (1 glass). Broccoli and oranges also can be added to the daily dietary count of calcium.

Tip 3.      Eat! Dietetics is about how “All Foods Fit”. Don’t resist the temptation. Eyeball the cake size that you want and then cut in 1/2 the amount that you would have otherwise have chosen. (If really courageous cut portion by 3/4’s. This way you can have your cake and you get to eat it too.

Tip 4.      Wine is not a fruit! Just because it comes from a grape doesn’t mean that it gets to be counted on your daily intake of 4 fruits per day. There are 100 calories in a half of glass of wine, which is considered one serving! Women and Men are instructed to consume no more than one to two alcholic beverages per day. 1 serving for a women and 2 servings for men.

Tip 5.      Salty foods are commonly placed in serving bowls throughout gathering areas. Be careful to choose only half of what you really would like to consume. Fruits and vegetables, especially those high in potassium, will flush out the excess salt from your body that will otherwise contribute to weightgain. (mangoes, cantalope, banana’s, oranges, kiwi, cucumber, tomatoes, plantains, lime beans)

Follow all these tips or just a few and you should notice only your weight maintenance. Happy Holidays from Eat Know How!

More on Potassium:  “Potassium is naturally found in fresh fruit, vegetables, whole grains, and dairy products. Meat, Poultry and Fish foods are high in potassium too, but an entirely carnivorous diet will be detrimental to your health, causing a rise in acid levels and depleting potassium levels.” http://www.buzzle.com/articles/potassium-rich-foods-list-of-foods-high-in-potassium.html

Anti- aging Benefits of White Tea
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19653897?itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum&ordinalpos=3

We are at the start of week 4!

Whoohoo!!!

Here are some principles to help you enjoy food and keep you on track:

• Be careful not to take in too many high-glycemic carbohydrates with any particular meal especially when eating out. Don’t eat bread, potatoes, and dessert all at the same meal. In fact, recent research reveals it would be best to avoid high-glycemic foods all together.
• Be creative with your snacks and be sure that they contain the right balance of good carbohydrates, good fat, and good protein. A typical meal should contain two servings of carbohydrates, one serving of protein, and one serving of fat.
• Always have healthy snacks readily available. If you don’t, you will eat whatever is around when you get hungry.
• Purchase lean bars, balance bars, and lean drinks, which already have the proper balance and have them readily available.
• You will tend to have some withdrawal from a high carbohydrate diet. However, once you become consistent with this eating regime you will feel much better with a marked increase in energy.
• Be creative with your shakes - add Cinnamon to the Vanilla shake, add fruit (Banana, Strawberries, Raspberries, Blueberries or any fruit of your liking) to the shakes. Add Yogurt to make a yummy desert (just watch for those hidden calories or sweeteners) or blend the shake with less water and added ice for a thick smoothy. mmm yam! You can event trow in a few shopped nuts (almond, walnuts, hazelnuts)…

Most people find it relatively easy to stay with this eating regime. Be creative using these principles and enjoy your food!

yes, I skipped 2 days. I didn’t go off the bandwagon, I just got busy. Good news today, scale said 145.8 that is 6.2 lbs down from 152 (which I had gotten to before I switched from a strictly calorie counting diet, to a Protein/low carb diet about 2 weeks ago, it seems to be working!).

Breakfast: one asian style nut wafer from TJ’s. 80 calories + 2 grams of P. Designer Whey Choc. mix 100 cal + 18 grams of P, plus almond milk 40 cal + 1 gram of P, plus blueberries 60 cal. 

 total: 220 calories and 21 grams of P.

Note to anyone interested: in the past few days I discovered Kellogg’s (yes, Kellogg’s) Special K20 protein water mix in my local Walgreen’s quite by accident. each packet has 30 calories, and 5 grams of fiber, 0 grams of sugar and 5 grams of protein. you mix it with your water and drink. i find each packet actually is good for two servings and helps rejuvenate me when i need energy or am hungry. Came in two flavors, I tried the pink lemonade. doesn’t taste exactly like that cause of lack of sugar, but it looks pink and it is pleasant tasting. I recommend you give it a try.

OMG OMG OMG! I actually deep fried something well! Woah! This is huge!! Remember when I was an absolute failure at making everything deep fried? Well I can do it now!!

Now that I’ve gotten the excitement out of my system, lets move on to the actual way this worked. I used a candy thermometer and heated the oil to 350°F. I’ve discovered that the secret to making it happen well is to make sure that the oil is at a constant temperature and that you use a whole pot of oil and not just a pan with a small layer.

I used precooked frozen de-veined shrimp and defrosted them. When you deep-fry the shrimp, the crust will fry and the shrimp won’t get too overcooked because they’ll be cold to begin with. They’ll just heat through. Frozen shrimp go on sale often so you can just buy a bag and keep them until you’re ready for this recipe.

There is a 3-step process to creating the coconut crust. First dredge the shrimp in flour so it has a thin coat on it. Then dip them in egg with salt and pepper. You can just whisk the egg with a fork quickly. Finally dredge the shrimp in an equal parts mixture of shredded coconut and Panko bread crumbs. Panko bread crumbs are Japanese bread crumbs that are lighter than most other bread crumbs. They’re becoming popular in American cooking, so you should be able to find them in your local supermarket. The coconut was on sale this week, which is what inspired this dish.

Then put a few coated shrimp in the hot oil. You can do about 6 at a time. If you add too many to the oil the temperature will drop too much. After the crust has browned use a metal strainer to pull the shrimp out of the hot oil and put them on a paper towel to drain. Continue in batches until all the shrimp are done.

For the sauce, mix together vinegar, orange marmalade and hot sauce. Start with a little bit of hot sauce and add more until it is as spicy as you want.

Currently Cooking To:

Wale – Chillin (ft. Lady Gaga)
Wale – Nike Boots

I remember when I discovered Nike Boots a few years ago and I’m so glad that Wale has finally broken onto the mainstream music scene because he’s wonderful. Also, just the combination of Wale and Lady Gaga is bound to be a great song. And P.S. It’s pronounced like Wall-A and not like Whale.

First off, I’m ecstatic to say I’ve affiliated with Amazing Grass. Something about that grass really is amazing because it has me hooked(especially those bars!) and I’m definitely happy to endorse them. You can now click on the pretty photo to the right to check out and even order some of their products. Simple, right?

Well yesterday, as I predicted, I tore myself off the couch for a nice little run. First I grabbed a snack.

Apple

I decided to do a short little route around town. It’s weird to think once that was my long run and yesterday it was practically my rest run. It reminded me of what’s fun about small rural places, case in point a man wearing green overalls and a red plaid shirt on a riding lawn mower. Santa, much? Well I thought it was 5.4 miles but when I got home it was 5.3. I was a tad disappointed and ran a bit further(as in 1.3 miles “bit”). Overall it was a nice but hilly 6.6 mile run. There was an offer of lentils for lunch but I really had one thing on my mind.

Banana Oats With Smart Balance And Chocolate Chips

After runs I’m a carby carb carb kind of guy. For this bowl, I used a 3oz banana mashed till all the fiber was gone, cinnamon and vanilla stevia, then my standard oat mix with 20g oatbran, 20g steel cuts, and 2/3 water. It was so thick! I could hardly believe I didn’t put flax in there. It definitely hit the spot. After lunch we went out and tagged our Christmas tree!

Our Christmas Tree

What a better way to say “we’re Christian” than sticking a tree in our house, right? We used to have my grandfather cut a giant one from New Hampshire and haul it down. Then he started just giving us money to buy big ones. Then we went through a phase of buying “Charlie Brown trees”, and now we go with moderately sized ones and pocket the rest of the money. This is also good because the tree farm is right near our house(near as in, if it’s a nice day when we cut it down, we could walk it home).

After that we went to Whole Foods. Like you all, I thought my haul last Sunday was a bit big. Well did anybody but me notice I didn’t go back once during the week? I ran a little low on Nog and pumpkin towards the end, but I convinced myself I could make it till Friday. Needless to say, though, there was tons to replenish and new sales to discover. There was plenty of good sopping, but a BIG disappointment when they were out of Snickerdoodle soy ice cream I suppose that’s for the best because it wasn’t on sale nor did I have a coupon like for most of the other items. After that, I was hangry for something protein(!). I don’t know how, but I know that’s what I wanted. I broke out a mighty protein bar.

Amazing Grass Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein Bar

I was kind of hoping this would at least make it from the store home. Apparently, that wasn’t meant to be. But it did the protein trick for the time. It was great walking around Price Chopper when we stopped there to see the NuVal stores Tina and Melissa mention. I think I’m pretty established on what I think is “good” food, but most of America seems to need a little guidance, and it’s good Nuval is there to help. When we got home I laid out my loot.

Groceries Part 1

Groceries Part 2

Again, it looks like a lot, and it was, but I went in with the mindset of buying for what I’ll need at home since I’ll be on vacation Tuesday through next Sunday. I got both tofu’s on sale for 2.25(that’s together, not apiece). All the sausages were on sale and something I’ve been craving. The yogurts and cookies were also a good deal, and I needed the milk and pumpkin for a recipe. this recipe, in fact.

Crustless Pumpkin Pie

Ingredients:

• 1 cup turbinado sugar
• 3 tablespoons whole wheat flour
• 3 eggs
• 2 cups canned pumpkin
• 3/4 cup evaporated milk
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Ingredients

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a water bath in a large baking pan which will surround your pie tin half way up. In a bowl, combine sugar, flour, eggs, evaporated milk, and pumpkin. Mix well. Add the vanilla as well as the spices to taste. Once ready, pour into the pie tin, and bake for an hour, or until top looks firm but not burnt or cracking. Carefully remove and let sit until the water cools and is safe to handle.

Pumpkin Oats With Cinnamon Frosting And Mighty Maple

Eventually I tried having more of a meal instead of snacking. A couple readers noted that I’ve been making “frosting” for a while now but no longer say what it is. Well, it’s actually just 1-2oz greek yogurt with a flavor like jam, cinnamon, or maple, and sweetener to taste. Super simple and super delicious. It adds a creaminess to the roof of the oats, and because I salt them before cooking so much a great contrast.

I normally don’t remember my dreams, but last night’s were too weird to forget. one was about Patrick Swayzee. I don’t remember the message much past that, but it had me hungry for some maple almond butter weirdly.

Bread With Maple Almond Butter

While I ate this, at 3:33, I discovered 3’s Company on TV Land. Do you think somebody came up with that timing or it’s coincidence that they show 3’s Company at 3am? Another dream involved someone taking everything out of my dorm including my Beanie Babies and submerging them in the pool because they didn’t like me. I don’t keep beanie babies in my room, but let’s hope my nut butters are safe. This morning, I woke up, turned on the coffee, and slept for another hour. Oops. After realizing I’m overwrought with things to do the longer I stay in the warmer it will be for a long run, I decided to have breakfast first.

Oatmeal With An Egg And 3 Lightlife Breakfast Sausage Links

Protein mess, anyone? For oats with an egg, I cook them for 2 minutes without the egg, then crack it in, swirl it about, and cook it for another 90 seconds. These sausage links were great! I couldn’t tell from texture they weren’t meat, though the flavor didn’t have much of a spicy kick. It went well with a drizzle of maple syrup, though. Now I plan to finish breakfast, let it digest(though probably not really) and do a 10+ run. There are so many more decisions when you don’t go to the gym! Should I do the neighborhood 9 ties, or head out on the road? And should I listen to heart pumping songs, seasonal Christmas tunes, or a movie? Decisions, decisions.

Click here to win some tofu!

Nature’s Path giveaway! Yum! I love me some granola

And a Newman’s Own Organic giveaway! Let this be my lucky day.