Get the Right Energy You Need from the Right Protein Powder

I generally recommend eating a whole food based diet vs supplementing with isolated nutrients. However, there are times when we need to supplement like protein powder.

Protein powder is a supplement that has been used by bodybuilders and people simply looking to stay in shape; it is used to maximize the effects of their workouts and to build the muscle that they need to burn excess calories and to maintain a steady weight. As you age, your body gradually loses its ability to produce critical amino acids – the building blocks of proteins you need for energy production, immune actions, and protein buildup in the muscle. The need for these supplement increases even more in times of high physical stress, like after a workout, or when recovering from injury or illness.

You don’t have to be an athlete to need protein. All proteins are comprised of amino acids, considered the building blocks of life. Your muscles, skin, hair, tendons, and cartilage are all made of amino acids.

Protein also helps form your enzymes, hormones, and replacement tissues and cells.

With so many protein powders on the market, how does a consumer choose one that is healthful and non inflammatory. Then there is the matter of taste and convenience.

Because I have children who are athletes and a husband who works on his physique and because we can only consume so much protein from food source, additional source of safe and delicious protein was essential to us. Steven uses whey protein with amino acids to help his body recover faster from a workout. When my boys play soccer or my daughter practices her dancing, they need to replenish their nutrients fast in a way that doesn’t strain their stomach. Whether they get their protein from whey or plant protein source, what they consume helps them build healthy muscles and replenish their energy after exercise.

If you’re an athlete at any level, or someone serious about enhancing your nutrition and overall performance, you owe it to your health to look for a clean source of protein powder.

Protein powders are easy and quick to prepare. I like to mix one spoon full of protein powder with coconut water and blend it in a blender or mixer.

It can be very confusing to know which protein powder to choose when there are so many choices of protein powder in the market.

Many protein powder products are on the market, but they often contain substances that make them inconsistent with gluten-free and vegan diets. So many of the protein powders on the market are full of questionable ingredients. Unfortunately, 95% of commercial protein powders have toxic ingredients that could be slowly inflaming your body and depleting your cellular nutritional stores.

While there are many different protein sources only a few are of high quality. Most commercial protein powders use inferior protein sources that contain heavy metals and fill their products with artificial sweeteners and preservatives that are highly toxic. Additionally, here is a list of other dangerous ingredients that you’ll want to avoid:

• Genetically modified Organisms or Genetically Engineered foods
• Brown Rice
• Whey Isolate
• Corn
• Soy
• Wheat
• Agave
• Refined Sugar
• Peanut
• GMO
• Gluten

BareFood Angel’s Approved Protein Powder list

It took me months to research the brands to find the ones that meet BareFood Angel’s guidelines. As you can imagine, it took reading tons of the labels carefully, making sure that it doesn’t include questionable or inflammatory ingredients, making sure that it included nutrient dense ingredients sourced and processed properly and sustainably and finally making sure it passes the taste test.

Below is a revised list of BareFood Angel approved protein powders that are free from heavy metals. The list includes options for vegans and vegetarians. Due to FoodBabe’s latest investigation, I dropped the Vega one that I had previously recommended.

You may purchase them from a health food store near you or from this online source* and receive:

• 1 FREE trial period
• FREE shipping on any order over $49
• Members-Only Savings: up to 50% off
• Top Brands
• 15% off your first order

Taste Test:

Taste is a matter of preference. As a family, we like Dr. Mercola’s brand.

I wish you to be empowered to choose foods that are not only nourishing for your body but don’t have inflammatory ingredients.

As always, let me know how this article helped you and I’d love your feedback on which protein powder you liked.

To your health,

Caroline Your BareFoodAngel

*To help my customers shop my recommended brands, I have set up an account with the following company.

Your cost will be the same.

I earn a small commission if you use the links in this article to purchase the products I mentioned. I only recommend products I would use myself or that pass my test. Your purchase helps support this site and my ongoing research.

The post Get the Right Energy You Need from the Right Protein Powder appeared first on Barefood Angel.

Refreshing Yogurt Dessert

Refreshing Yogurt Dessert

This yogurt desert is refreshing and is a huge hit for the whole family. You can use any kind of yogurt. Just keep it real, organic, whole (vs low or non fat), unadulterated and unsweetened. You and your kids won’t believe it's packed with protein, probiotics, and minerals. It is an easy school lunch recipe. I would have each ingredient packed separately. When ready to eat it, the kids can just mix the ingredients. It keeps the ingredients fresher and makes the experience more fun for them. Use this in place of breakfast sometimes, before bed snack or in between meal snack. It is an easy school lunch recipe. I would have each ingredient packed separately. When ready to eat it, the kids can just mix the ingredients. It keeps the ingredients fresher and makes the experience more fun for them. It is such a versatile recipe. Use fruits that are in season.

• CourseDessert

Servings	Prep Time
1person	5 minutes

Servings Prep Time 1person 5 minutes

Ingredients

• 1/2cup raw yogurtor plain whole organic yogurt
• 1-2tsp organic maple syrup
• 1/2cup fruitsseasonal. Berries, stone summer fruits, and melons go really well with yogurt.
• 1 Tbs nutscrushed

Instructions

1. Pour the yogurt in a bowl.
2. Add the maple syrup. Mix with the yogurt.
3. Add the cut up fruit (you can use the small berries without cutting).

Recipe Notes

Leave a comment directly below. Let me know if you used different fruits and toppings.
Thank you as always, for watching/reading, sharing and allowing me to be a part of your world. It’s a true honor.

Feel free to share this recipe. Ask your friends and family to sign up through this link to automatically receive my latest posts/recipes/practical healthful ideas.

To Your Health,

Caroline

 

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3 Nourishing Shopping Tips

Does your week seem to get ahead of you? Let me help you! Follow these simple steps and your path to wellness and healthy eating will be set in motion. This article was co-created with the help of Stephanie Bower who is a friend and an amazing permaculture designer.

A big part of overall wellness is healthy eating. This means different things to different people – omnivore, vegetarian, vegan, raw, etc. Regardless of the particular dietary preferences you observe, there are several basics for healthy eating – minimize or eliminate processed foods; eat lots of veggies, fruits, legumes; consumed properly prepared grains and cook meals from scratch, to name a few.  Here are some tips to build or maintain a foundation for healthy eating in your family.

1. Make a plan

Set aside 15 minutes or so on the weekend to plan your meals for the week.

• Try new recipes or use tried and true favorites.
• Make double batches so there are leftovers for lunches or dinners the next day, which cuts back on the amount of cooking.
• Make large batches of soups, stews, casseroles, or other recipes that can be portioned and frozen, then thawed during the week.

2. Create a shopping list

….from your meal plan. That way you won’t buy too much or forget a crucial ingredient. Having everything you need to whip up a healthy dinner also minimizes the chances you’ll stare into your fridge or pantry at the end of a long day, only to decide that takeout would be easier than trying to play Iron Chef with random things you find there.

3. Shop Wisely

This one’s hard, especially at mainstream supermarkets. Let’s focus the rest of these tips on how to shop wisely.

Health Food Stores and Farmer’s Markets 

Let’s start with where to go – you’ll find a better selection of “real food” options at natural foods stores. Some local favorites: Whole Foods, Ewerhon Market, and Lassens. Farmer’s markets can’t be beat for produce, eggs, and other locally grown/produced and seasonal items. I like getting my organic fermented sourdough bread at the Farmer’s market.

If you don’t have access to a health food store, organic brands or farmer’s market near you and/or you want to take advantage of WholeFoods items at Costco prices, you can shop from this online source*. Try it for FREE for one month. FREE shipping on any order over $49, savings of up to 50%, top brands, 15% off your first order. They always seem to offer a valuable free giveaway at the beginning of each week.

Shop the Perimeter

That’s where most of the whole foods are – produce, meat, dairy. A note about produce – frozen is just as healthy as fresh. That’s because frozen veggies are frozen at the peak of freshness, right after being picked.

Buy in Season

Off-season produce is usually grown very far away, picked early to ensure it can make the long trip to your supermarket, then ripened artificially. However, the best place to shop for produce is the local farmers’ market and/or you local CSA (Community Supported Agriculture).

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is a system where you pay into a farm or group of farms, and get a box of produce each week throughout the season (some may even be year-round, especially ones that are a group of farms). This ensures that the farmers have reliable funding to support their farm(s), and you get a return on your investment in the form of the farm’s bounty! This is great because you pick up your bag each week, and get a variety of things you may not have thought to purchase yourself. You get exposed to many new super healthy veggies and fruits, and help support local farmers in the process. It’s a win-win!

Buy Grass fed/Grass finished, Pasture Raised and Organic Meat, Egg and Dairy

It’s better for you and the environment. Choose raw organic milk. Make sure your eggs come from pasture raised chickens.

Choose Wild-caught Sustainable Fish

Alaskan salmon, shrimp or prawns from the US, and Arctic char are good choices. Check this APP for eco friendly and healthy/safe fish.

Buy Organic

Use the Environmental Working Group’s (EWG’s) “dirty dozen” and “clean fifteen” lists as guides for which produce to buy organic if you have a tight budget. The EWG has a downloadable pdf or an app so you can always have the list at your fingertips:

According to the EWG, the “dirty dozen” most pesticide-laden fruits and vegetables are: strawberries, apples, nectarines, peaches, celery, grapes, cherries, spinach, tomatoes, sweet bell peppers, cherry tomatoes, and cucumbers. Green beans and kale/greens may contain pesticides of particular concern. There are two types of food that contain trace levels of highly hazardous pesticides. Leafy greens – kale and collard greens – and hot peppers do not meet traditional Dirty Dozen™ ranking criteria but were frequently found to be contaminated with insecticides toxic to the human nervous system. Buy these organic.

The “clean 15″ are avocados, sweet corn, pineapples, cabbage, frozen sweet peas, onions, asparagus, mangoes, papayas, kiwis, eggplant, honeydew melon, grapefruit, cantaloupe, and cauliflower.

If on a tight budget, buy your strawberries organic but don’t spend extra on organic avocados. But, and this is important, even conventional produce is much, much, much better for you than processed foods. So eat lots of it, and don’t skip it if you can’t get organic.

Avoid GMOs

A GMO (genetically modified organism) is the result of a laboratory process where genes from the DNA of one species are extracted and artificially forced into the genes of an unrelated plant or animal. The foreign genes may come from bacteria, viruses, insects, animals or even humans. Because this involves the transfer of genes, GMOs are also known as “transgenic” organisms. Genetically modified crops and foods are neither safe nor necessary to feed the world. Here you can read more facts about GMOs.

There is an independent, third-party organization called the Non-GMO Project. Here is a link to their list of high risk, monitored, and common ingredients from GMO risk Crops.

When it comes to detecting GMOs, the Non-GMO Project utilizes a much more rigorous process than the one employed by the USDA’s National Organic Program. However, the Non-GMO Project does not account for super-toxic pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, and other substances prohibited in USDA certified organic products. (Its objective is simply to identify genetically-modified ingredients.)

That is why I will always choose USDA certified organic over Non-GMO Project Verified. If you can buy a product that is USDA certified organic and Non-GMO Project Verified, that is the best of both worlds.

Read Labels

Read especially the list of ingredients. Carefully consider anything that has more than five ingredients although there are many exceptions to this rule of thumb. For instance potato chips that are fried with refined rancid vegetable oils may have limited list of ingredients but say yogurt may have a longer list and some that you may not be able to pronounce.  Don’t buy anything that has any form of sugar or sweetener in the first three ingredients. Of course, don’t buy anything that has ingredients you can’t pronounce unless it is a latin name for friendly bacterias in yogurt. Maybe you can pronounce them if you have taken chemistry but if it isn’t produced naturally by nature, be careful. Be wary of products with health claims on the package. They’re usually highly engineered and processed foods. Ignore the front of the package and read the label especially the list of ingredients instead.

Bulk Bin

Get rice, quinoa, oatmeal, nuts, seeds, beans, interesting grains you’ve always wanted to try (think millet, amaranth, etc.) Bulk bins save you lots of money, and you get real foods there. Stay away from  the candy of course.

Eat Locally Grown and Produced Foods

Eat locally grown produce that’s in season and picked when ripe. Farmer’s markets and your CSA are the best source of local and in season foods. You can chat with the vendors to get new ideas for familiar items, or try something new. I didn’t know the benefits of Juju Beans until I tried one at the farmers’ market; now I can’t get enough of them when in season! When at the farmers’ market, ask lots of questions. Do not assume that just because you find it there, it’s organic. Some smaller farms don’t go through the hassle and expense of becoming “certified” organic, but they do follow organic practices, most importantly they do not use pesticides. However, there are sometimes vendors selling conventionally grown produce (= grown using pesticides, etc.). Some markets are more stringent about this than others, but just be sure to ask. A great question whose answer will shed the light on whether the farmer grows organically or not (whether certified or not) is “Do you use fertilizers?”. If the answer is “our fertilizers are organic” or “we don’t use pesticides”, move on. If they say “we use compost as fertilizer”, you are on the right track.

I’d love to hear about your progress and which one of these steps you are going to implement in the next few weeks? Share your comments below and if you liked this article, please share it with your loved ones.  If on a computer, hover over the feature image to share via social sites or if on mobile device, share this post when the share box pops up.

*I earn a small commission if you use this link in this article to purchase the products I mentioned. I only recommend products I would use myself or that pass BareFood Angel’s approval. Your purchase helps support this site and my ongoing research.

To your health,

Caroline Your BareFood Angel

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Berry Yummy Bowl

Here is an invigorating superfood breakfast or snack. The berries in this Berry Yummy Bowl provide a low-glycemic fruit base with fiber that will keep blood sugar levels even.
Berries are full of vitamin C, manganese, fiber, copper and vitamin K.
The coconut water is a great source of electrolytes and the coconut milk adds a little bit of sweetness and a creamy consistency.
Acai powder adds antioxidants and omega 3 fatty acids.
Maca Powder adds B vitamins and vitamin C.

Berry Yummy Bowl

• CourseBreakfast, Dessert

Servings	Prep Time
1serving	5minutes

Servings Prep Time 1serving 5minutes

Ingredients

• 1 bananafresh or frozen
• 1/2cup blueberriesorganic, fresh or frozen
• 1/2cup raspberriesorganic, fresh or frozen
• 2Tbsp acai powder
• 1Tbsp maca powder
• 1/4cup coconut water
• 1/2cup coconut milk

Instructions

1. Add all ingredients into a blender.
2. Blend on high until smooth.
3. Pour into a bowl.
4. Add some nuts and enjoy.

Recipe Notes

Here is a superfood invigorating breakfast or snack. The berries provide a low-glycemic fruit base with fiber that will keep blood sugar levels even.
Berries are full of vitamin C, manganese, fiber, copper and vitamin K.
The coconut water is a great source of electrolytes and the coconut milk adds a little bit of sweetness and a creamy consistency.
Acai powder adds antioxidants and omega 3 fatty acids.
Maca Powder adds B vitamins and vitamin C.

adapted from Michelle Pellizon

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Chicken Marsala

This dish won’t disappoint. Sweet and savory healthy protein. The Flava’ is fun to say, fun to make, and fun to taste.

To save time, I have the chicken breasts cut into halves and pounded thinly by the butcher.

Enjoy!

Chicken Marsala

• CourseMain Dish
• CuisineItalian

Servings	Prep Time
4people	20minutes

Cook Time

20 minutes

Servings Prep Time 4people 20minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Ingredients

Chicken marsala

• 1/2cup gluten free flourI use floured spelt bread and coconut flour
• 1Tbsp Essencerecipe follows
• 2 chicken breasts6 to 8-ounce. Boneless, skinless. Cut in halves and pounded thin.
• 1Tbsp olive oilextra virgin cold pressed
• 4Tbsp butter
• 3cups mushroomssliced. cremini, oyster, shiitake
• 3/4cup marsala
• 1/2tsp arrowroot starch
• 1cup chicken stockor pure clean water
• real saltto taste
• black pepperto taste

Flava' Essence

• 2 1/2 Tbsp paprika
• 2Tbsp real salt
• 2Tbsp garlic powder
• 1Tbsp black pepper
• 1Tbsp onion powder
• 1tsp cayenne
• 1Tbsp oreganodried
• 1Tbsp thymedried

Instructions

1. In a shallow bowl or plate combine the flour and Flava’ and stir to combine thoroughly. Quickly dredge the chicken breast halves in the seasoned flour mixture, shaking to remove any excess flour.
2. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until very hot but not smoking. Add 1 tablespoon of the butter and cook the chicken breasts until golden brown on both sides, about 3 minutes per side.
3. Transfer to a plate and set aside.
4. Add 1 tablespoon of the remaining butter to the pan and add the mushrooms. Cook, stirring frequently, until mushrooms are golden brown around the edges and have given off their liquid.
5. Add the Marsala wine and bring to a boil, scraping to remove any browned bits from the bottom of the pan.
6. When the wine has reduced by half, add the chicken stock/water with arrowroot starch mixed in and cook for 3 minutes, or until the sauce has thickened slightly.
7. Lower the heat to medium and return the chicken breasts to the pan and continue to cook until they are cooked through and the sauce has thickened, about 5 to 6 minutes.
8. Swirl in the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter, add salt and pepper, to taste. Garnish with chopped chives and serve immediately.

Recipe Notes

Recipe adapted  from "New New Orleans Cooking", by Emeril Lagasse and Jessie Tirsch. Published by William and Morrow, 1993.

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Fluffy Pancakes

Pancakes! Yum. It is a perfect breakfast food to start the day or a nurturing way to end it. Warm, fluffy, and naturally sweet. I use coconut water in my batter to add more nourishing minerals. I find these are sweet enough by themselves, but feel free to top them off with a tad more butter or warm maple syrup.

Fluffy Pancakes

• CourseBreakfast
• CuisineAmerican

Servings	Prep Time
64" pancakes	5 minutes

Cook Time

5 minutes

Servings Prep Time 64" pancakes 5 minutes

Cook Time 5 minutes

Ingredients

• 1cup pamela’s pancake mix
• 1 eggorganic pasture raised
• 3/4cup coconut water
• 1Tbsp grade b organic maple syrup
• 1Tbsp butterorganic pastured raised
• 1tbsp extra virgin cold pressed olive oil

Instructions

1. Except for butter, mix all ingredients together until there are no lumps.
2. Add additional coconut water to make batter thinner. But the batter should “hold on” when spooned on.
3. Preheat safe pan with butter.
4. Pour batter (usually about 2 TBSP) onto the preheated pan. Batter should sizzle when first placed.
5. Turn heat to medium.
6. Leave batter to cook for 3 minutes on one side. To see if it is ready to be flipped, with a flat spatula (I like to use a wooden one), lift a corner. If you see it lift easily without sticking to pan and it is lightly browned, it is time to flip.
7. Flip. Leave for about 1 minute to cook.
8. Serve with a little bit more butter or tad bit more maple syrup if you wish and enjoy.

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