Add Some Spice to your life!

After considering how bland my diet can be (I have/will be eating eggs for every meal for the 5 days this week), I thought that I should publish an article on how I make each meal unique and flavorful.  The first thing I notice when I diet is the sweetness and fullness of food leaves me.  By adding spices, I am able to make each food count for more.  Here are some of my favorite spices and how they can help you create a healthy diet, without adding calories.

1)      Cinnamon:  When I was growing up, I always thought of cinnamon as cinnamon sugar, like the kind you find on Churros or French toast.  Now I realize that the two are much different.  Despite being slightly disappointed I enjoy cinnamon very much because it conjures up emotions of stuffing my face (even when I am deficiting).  Cinnamon is best used in conjunction with carbohydrate meals because of its insulin like properties.  Despite the evidence being inconclusive, I think there is a net benefit of adding fresh cinnamon to my food (see http://yourfitnessdecision.com/cinnamon-weight-loss).  My favorite is to add a hearty dosing to baked sweet potatoes/yams.  Because they are a pure carb source, I feel these complement each other synergistically.  When needing some variety in a keto diet, I will add cinnamon to protein (chicken, eggs, or beef) as it complements a fuller flavor.  Overall, this is my favorite spice.

2)      Potassium Salt:  This product makes me feel like I'm cheating.  Because most of the food I am eating on a keto diet has a significant quantity of sodium in it, I don't have to worry about upping my salt intake.  It is however to make sure that you entertain your body with some potassium because the body needs a mixture of both sodium and potassium based salt (the idea behind Gatorade).  By adding K-salt to my meat or eggs, I am able to make the item tastier, and increase the amount of sodium I intake into my body: in other words, a win-win.  My brand of choice is No Salt.

3)      Crushed Red Chilies: A recent addition to my spice rack, this spice is often enjoyed on Pizza.  Having found it sold at Costco for a mere price considering it was organic, I had to try it.  Although I am not a fan to spicy food.  Sometimes blowing your head off with spice will help you forget that you are starving.  I find that this spice is difficult to taste in very small quantities but mixes very well into scrambled eggs.  The spice has helped me re-adjust my taste buds, especially when I really want something calorically dense.  Spicy food is also considered to have some thermogenic properties but I don't want to push myself too far that I burn more calories because my mouth is on fire!

4)      Montreal Steak Seasoning:  After sampling several seasonings, I have found that this seasoning allows the best flexibility for me.  Added to chicken, eggs, fish, or beef I have found that it will take the taste score up from bland to moderately good.  At only 5 calories per serving it defiantly fits into my diet and because of the increased demand for sodium while in Keto, I can add it without feeling guilty.  Because of its blend of spices (salt, pepper, garlic, paprika), I feel that I can make it a multipurpose seasoning and thus it becomes more valuable.  The brand I use is McCormick Grill Mates Montreal Steak Seasoning from Costco.

5)      Cocoa: Another recent addition to my diet plan, I also thought cocoa powder only came sweetened.  I was stunned to smell the aroma of the powder only contained a bleak 10 calories per serving (1 tbsp.).  I have tried it with some protein sources but it usually doesn't blend tremendously.  I think that it will continue to be useful for four reasons: 1) chocolate taste (especially useful in bulking the chocolate taste in protein shakes), 2) antioxidant power of chocolate, 3) theobromine (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theobromine) and 4) the Nitric Oxide affect of cocoa (causes the veins and arteries to dilate to allow blood to flow more easily through the body).