Jonny Bowden's Blog, page 23

Free Range Citrus-Stuffed Herbed Turkey

The following is from The 150 Healthiest Comfort Foods on Earth by Dr. Jonny Bowden and Jeannette Bessinger for Fair Winds Press.

 

From Dr. Jonny: The holidays don’t have to be a time when you stop eating healthy; you can still enjoy many of the fabulous comforting offerings the season provides in abundance. Here’s a tremendous and traditional holiday meal for you that won’t feel you leaving one bit deprived. The turkey and cranberry-orange sauce are borrowed from The Healthiest Meals on Earth—one of our most popular recipes but the dressing is all new. It’s a remake of a comfort food staple which, although classic, is usually a high-glycemic, low-nutrient affair that can wreak havoc with your waistline. Our version is way better and just as tasty.

 

Free Range Citrus-Stuffed Herbed Turkey

We made the turkey “sans gravy” and stuffed it with a flavor-rich combo of herbs and citrus for a juicy and aromatic bird. (Free-range turkey only, please! You don’t need the added hormones and steroids!) Traditionally, this type of a whole-bird preparation calls for at least one stick of butter, but we reduced it and mixed it with olive oil, giving you a nice mix of heart-healthy fat and valuable olive phenols. (To get all the “good stuff,” use extra-virgin olive oil.) Fun fact: contrary to popular opinion, most of the fat in butter is actually monounsaturated fat, the same healthy fat found in olive oil!

 

To Brine:

1 18–20 lb turkey (free-range, not self-basting)

You will need 2 to 3 gallons of brining solution for an 18–20 lb turkey.

Per gallon of water, add:

1 cup salt
½ cup raw honey
2 teaspoons finely grated lemon peel, optional
2 teaspoons grated orange peel, optional
½ tablespoon cardamom pods, optional
1 teaspoon dried thyme, optional

 

To Prepare the Turkey for Roasting:

8 sprigs each of fresh rosemary (young and tender, not woody), sage and thyme, (1¼ to 1½ cups total when coarsely chopped)*
2 shallots
1 whole head garlic
1 lemon
1 orange
½ stick butter, softened
2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and pepper, to taste
1/2 cup sherry

 

Starting with 2 gallons of water, mix the brining solution (salt through thyme) in the correct proportions, stirring until the salt and honey are dissolved. Rinse the turkey and pat it dry. Place the turkey in a lobster pot or large stockpot. Pour the brining solution to cover the turkey completely. Place turkey in the fridge for 12 to 24 hours. Remove, rinse very well under running water and dry thoroughly, including cavity. If you want crisper skin, brine and rinse the day before and place it, breast side up and uncovered in the basting pan in the fridge overnight to allow excess moisture to evaporate.

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Stem and coarsely chop the herbs, setting aside about ¾ (about 2/3 to 1 cup of herbs) of the total. Mince the remaining fourth (about ½ cup) of the herb mixture and put into a medium bowl.

Peel the shallots and garlic. Cut shallots in half, crush garlic cloves, and add to herbs. Quarter but do not peel the lemon and orange and squeeze them gently to make a little juice, tossing fruit and juice together with other ingredients in the bowl.

Using your hands, mix softened butter with olive oil in a small bowl until creamy.

Moving carefully so as not to puncture the skin, work your hand between the turkey skin and the breast as far as you can go to create a pocket over both breasts. Smear half of the butter/olive oil mixture over the breasts, covering as much meat as you can reach.

Place half of the reserved, coarsely chopped herbs in each pocket (on top of each breast). Do this carefully, and when complete, gently reshape (from the outside) the herb “pouches” above each breast to look rounded and smooth. Salt and pepper the inside of both cavities and stuff with fruit and herbs mixture. Tuck the wings behind the back, tuck the skin folds over the cavities to close, and truss the legs. Smear the entire bird with remaining butter/olive oil mixture, salt and pepper. Slowly pour sherry inside of the breast pockets, working it around to the leg joints.

Place V rack inside of roasting pan and cover with foil.** Poke about 15 holes into the foil. Bake on V rack, breast side down, for 45 minutes then reduce oven temp to

325°F. Turn bird breast side up, baste (can supplement juices with a few tablespoons of sherry if you wish), cover with tinfoil and continue to cook for about 2½ to 3 hours more, depending on the size of your bird. Remove the tinfoil to brown the breast and continue to cook for another 30 to 40 minutes, or until the thickest part of the breast and innermost parts of thighs and wings register at least 165°F on meat thermometer. When turkey is done, legs should roll loosely on the joint and the leg juices should run clear. Let rest on cutting board for about 20 minutes before carving.

 

Yield: On birds more than 12 pounds, allow ½ to 3/4 lb per person, so an 18-pound turkey can serve between 24 and 36 people.

 

Notes from Chef Jeannette:

*If you are working with a large bird (that will take a longer cooking time) or desire a milder herb flavoring, use the whole stems (without chopping) under the skin. Just remove the large pieces when the cooking is complete and use as a garnish.

**If you don’t own a V rack, try using 2 miniature loaf pans (4 or 5” by 3”), face down and set on either side of your roasting pan (in the middle, lengthwise). If using the loaf pans, no need for tinfoil.

Preventing (or curing) Holiday Weight Gain in Six Easy Steps

The comedian Lenny Bruce used to have a routine about shark attacks. He called it “Do’s and Don’ts for Swimmers in Shark Infested Waters”.

Are you ready for the first step?

Don’t go in the water.

I was reminded of this joke when putting together this article on holiday weight gain, because in this case, the (very obvious) first step is “don’t gain weight in the first place”. And actually, that’s a lot simpler than it sounds. Easy? Not necessarily. Simple? You bet.

Research over the last decade has shown that there are powerful forces—I’m talking Terminator- SuperHero powerful— that make it difficult to lose weight. First among them: hormones. An array of hormones, ranging from the well-known insulin to the lesser known ghrelin and resistin fight to keep you at your current weight or even “encourage” you to put more on, “just in case of emergency”.

Next, after hormones, is your brain. Powerful neurotransmitters like dopamine (the “gotta have it” neurotransmitter) direct you towards sugar-laden foods, an endless supply of which are always around on holidays. Hormones like leptin are supposed to signal your brain to eat less, but many of us are “leptin resistant”– the message doesn’t get through, our brains think we’re starving, and we act accordingly.

Point is that preventing holiday weight gain—or getting rid of those extra holiday pounds—takes a lot more than mere calorie counting. Try these tips to prevent holiday weight gain (and use them if you’re trying to drop the weight you already put on!)

The Proactive Food Diary: Mental rehearsal has been shown to improve everything from basketball shooting to piano playing. When you visualize what you want to do—vividly, as if it’s happening right now—you have a way better chance of actually doing it, whether it’s shooting a basket, playing scales, or eating healthy food.

So instead of recording everything you eat after you ate it, try doing a food diary “in reverse”. Start the day with a clear image of what it’s going to be like. What food will be there? How will you feel? What will you eat?

Make a reasonable decision about what you will and will not permit yourself—will it be one small piece of Aunt Mary’s pie?- and then stick to it, exactly the way you wrote it down. I’ve done this for years, and it’s amazingly effective.

Curb your appetite naturally. The easiest time to resist food is when you’re not hungry. So for goodness sake, don’t “save up” your appetite for the big holiday meal. Eat before you leave. Don’t—repeat do not—skip breakfast. And studies show that consuming a small green salad or a cup of non-creamy soup before the main meal causes people to spontaneously consume about 10% less calories at the meal, without even trying.


Eat protein first. It stimulates metabolism and also satiety. Filling up on protein before hitting the sugar-laden sweet potatoes can make it easier to keep portions of the sweet stuff to a minimum.


Try PGX. This terrific supplement- by Natural Factors—is pure glucomannon, a kind of super-fiber known to slow the absorption of sugar and to seriously (and naturally) cut your appetite. I use it all the time, especially at holidays. (You can get PGX at any Vitamin Shoppe.)


Take a walk after dinner. Preferably a long one. It will help you digest and metabolize some of those extra calories and, because exercise has an “insulin-like” effect, will also lower blood sugar as well as insulin (the “fat-storing” hormone).


Reprogram your brain. This one is probably the most important, especially for weight loss, and especially long-term. We live in a highly toxic food environment, one in which foods have been superbly and efficiently engineered by scientists for maximum “palatability” (read: addictiveness).

In the face of such brilliantly designed food “products”, we are next to helpless. These foods—particularly those high in sugar, fat and salt, in just the right combinations—are designed to hit all our addictive “buttons” and to produce nearly irresistible cravings. (Remember the advertisement, “betcha can’t eat just one?” That was probably the most honest statement ever made in an ad!)

The point is that we need to work on re-conditioning our brains so that the sight (and smell) of the foods that make us fat, sick, tired and depressed no longer trigger powerful cravings. Much like Pavlov’s dogs salivated at the sound of a bell, our brains now “salivate” at the sight of a Cinnabon (or a holiday feast with an equivalent orgy of sugar).

Now imagine, if you will, that the sight (or smell) of such foods didn’t trigger such powerful cravings. Imagine if they looked delicious, sure, but not irresistible. Imagine if you were not powerless at the sight of them.

In my program, “Unleash Your Thin”, we have an entire component that addresses just this issue. We teach you how to change your associations to the foods that are destroying your waistline (and your health). It’s a fairly simple process, actually, and it works.

Weight loss (and the prevention of weight gain in the first place) isn’t always easy. It is, however, simple– when you know what to do.

The six tips above are a great place to start.

Let the games begin!

Ask Dr. Jonny: Crickets for Lunch?

In this Ask Dr. Jonny video, Dr. Jonny answers Nick Bruno’s question, “What’s your opinion of consuming crickets, cricket powder or other insects?”

Post by Dr. Jonny Bowden.

Have a question for Dr. Jonny? Post them, tweet them or send us a private message. Dr. Jonny will do his best to answer them for you!

My Video Interview With Drew Canole

If you’ve ever wondered about juicing, Drew Canole is the man to listen to.  He went from being an overweight, miserably unhappy guy stuck in a dead end job to a buff, energetic guru of fitness. How’d he do it?. Listen to my fascinating interview with Drew and find out why the guy now has over 2 million followers on Facebook.

Check out Drew’s Organifi Green Juice!

My Crazy Immune Boosting Turmeric Elixir

The following is a guest article and recipe from my friend, and juicing guru Drew Canole.

It’s not normal to feel awful when you first wake up in the morning. Rather, you should feel absolutely amazing and bursting with vibrant energy. For 5,000 years, Ayurveda has been practiced to incorporate different herbs and spices that can boost up your immune system.  Unfortunately, due to our lack of knowledge on natural remedies, we often take pharmaceutical medications and antibiotics.

The solution to your problem is an elixir that I personally made.  The recipe includes lemon, ginger, turmeric, cayenne, vanilla bean, honey and coconut water.  It’s easy to make and we can get these ingredients virtually everywhere.   I call this the Grandpa Gubons Miracle Elixir, named after my grandfather.

Turmeric

Acts like an anti-inflammatory drug : A 2004 study published in the journal Oncogene found that curcumin (as well as resveratrol) were effective alternatives to the drugs aspirin, ibuprofen, sulindac, phenylbutazone, naproxen, indomethacin, diclofenac, dexamethasone, celecoxib, and tamoxifen in exerting anti-inflammatory and anti-proliferative activity against tumor cells.

Ginger

Ginger may also help reduce chronic pain, by lowering your levels of hormones that induce inflammation. A study published in 2005, suggests that ginger could lessen pain more effectively than non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.  Also, in lab tests, scientists have showed that ginger extract may slow the growth of colorectal and ovarian cancer cells, as well as protection against Alzheimer’s disease.

Lemon

Functions like a liver cleanser by stimulating the liver, removing toxins like uric acid and liquefies the bile. This is part of the reason why lemons are used as a great cleanser. Also contains Vitamin P,  which is known as Flavonoids.  This is a powerful antioxidant that helps neutralize free radials associated with cellular damage and aging.

The combination of ginger and turmeric help in removing toxins from the digestive system. Lemon is known as the only citrus fruit in the planet that helps for phase-2 liver detoxification.  Honey boosts your immune system. Coconut water increases nutrient absorption by 40%! Cayenne pepper is added to speed-up metabolism and the thermogenic process, and Vanilla bean is for flavor.

Step 1:  Juice the Lemon,Ginger and Turmeric.

Step 2:  Add Coconut water

Step 3:  Add the Honey, Vanilla bean, and Cayenne pepper

Just to share with you, I haven’t been to a doctor for any serious illness since my transformation and you shouldn’t either.  There’s no excuse for feeling bad in the morning. There’s no excuse for having less energy than what is required to spend quality time with your family.  Boost your immune system so that sickness and fatigue doesn’t even cross your mind.

Here is the juice recipe that I’m talking about. This will definitely help in strengthening your immune system.

Ingredients

1 Lemon

1″ Ginger Root

1″ Turmeric Root

1 tbsp Manuka Honey

1/2 cup Coconut Water

Dash of vanilla bean and cayenne pepper

Make a Pitcher:  8″ of turmeric, 3″ ginger, 2 lemons, 1/8 cup honey, 1 vanilla bean, 3 tablespoons of cayenne and 24 ounces coconut water and 12 oz water.

With juicing, you get a lot of health benefits. Longevity, confidence, focus and mental clarity to name a few are all going to come your way if you make the right decision now.

Delicious Ways to Enjoy Vegetable Juicing for Weight Loss

The following is from Jonny Bowden’s New You In 22.

 

Many heath experts, myself included,  are advocates of vegetable juicing for weight loss, and will easily recommend vegetable juices as part of an effective weight loss plan.

The thing is most people are not fond of vegetables. If you are one of these people, here are delicious ways to enjoy vegetable juices and benefit from their weight loss abilities.

Gourmet Green Drink

Contrary to common belief, green drinks are actually delicious. You can choose from any or a combination of the following for your green drink recipe:

Wheatgrass
Barley grass
Magma
Broccoli
Spinach
Kale
Parsley
Other green leafy vegetables

Drinking your greens make vegetable consumption more palatable for fussy eaters or for those who are not fond of veggies. This is one delicious way to meet your recommended vegetable servings for weight loss.

Some of the remarkable benefits you can get from your green drink are the following:

Excellent source of nutrients that will allow you to stay healthy while dropping the pounds fast.
Purifies your blood and removes the toxins from your body. Toxic substances interfere with the functions of your body systems resulting in poor health condition including excessive weight.
Promotes overall health condition, and increases your energy levels to do all the activities you plan to do throughout the day.

Smoothie Your Greens

One of the more effective ways to lose weight healthily is to drink protein shakes for breakfast. You can create your own drink by juicing your green vegetables. For variety, you can create succulent green smoothies that will give you the following benefits:

Your body receives plant-based protein. In many ways, plant-based protein is healthier than animal-based protein. Veggies contain chlorophyll rich in alkaline.This will restore the good balance between alkaline-acid in your body, considering that the American diet today is highly acidic. The good balance of acid-alkaline is essential in weight management.
Vegetables are an excellent source of fiber. WebMD, in fact, recommends the consumption of fiber-rich food for weight loss. Health experts say that dietary fiber has that power to fill your stomach without the risks of storing unnecessary fats in the body.In a study that monitors the big weight losers, most of these individuals are habitual breakfast eaters with fiber-rich food as part of their staple meals.
Juicing your veggies makes it easier for your body to absorb the nutrients. As soon as the smoothie touches your mouth, digestion and abruption of nutrients begin.

Vegetable juicing for weight loss will turn green veggies into an appetizing beverage that adults and kids will both love. According to Dr. Jonny Bowden, juicing is at its best when you use green vegetables as ingredients.

Easy Recipes

Here are three vegetable juice recipes that are easy to prepare and will deliver weight loss benefits to your body:

Raw Chlorophyll Juice – Just combine all the ingredients below into your juicer:

Spinach

Dandelion greens

Parsley

You may want to add the following fruits for flavor: apples and grapes.

Easy Green Juice – extract the juice from the following ingredients:

3 stalks of celery
About 10 pieces of lettuce leaves
1 ½ green apple

Kale Cool Aid Juice – juice the following ingredients and combine the extract together. Serve with ice.

About 5 pieces of kale leaves
2 large cucumbers
1 piece green apple
1 piece of lemon, peeled
Thumb-sized ginger, peeled
2 ribs of celery

Tips for Juicing Your Veggies

There is no doubt to the health power of vegetables. Using veggies as your ingredients to create weight loss juices can be as refreshing and as delicious as natural fruit juices by following these tips:

Add apples or carrots to your recipes, as they are natural sweeteners. These two are also able to break the bitter taste of some vegetables.
Prefer to juice fresh vegetables (also fruits), and as much as possible choose organic. Fresh organic veggies are superior in nutritional and health value.
Your choice of juicer also matters. If you wish to maximize the weight loss and other health benefits of juicing your veggies, choose a good quality juicer.
Mix and match your veggies, and include some fruits to your recipes. The trick is to create varied delicious-tasting recipes. The web has all the resources you need to help you.

Start to benefit from your vegetable juice right now and enjoy the healthy results!

 

Green Foods and Drinks

Green foods and drinks (barley, wheatgrass, chlorella, spirulina, blue green algae)

If dogs happen to be a part of your family, you’ve undoubtedly seen them eat grass. Why? No one really knows. (Currently, a doctoral candidate at the University of New England, Australia is investigating just that subject for her PhD research). Some people believe that dogs eat cereal grasses because they contain nutrients not found in meat that are essential for the animals’ good health. One thing is for sure- grass is a rich source of nutrients, and “green foods” made from cereal grasses and algae are among the healthiest foods I know of for humans.

This unusual category- green foods and drinks- covers a lot of territory, from the perennial health food store favorite wheatgrass juice, to the algaes like blue green algae and spirulina. All have specific nutrient profiles and are used for different (but overlapping) purposes. Let’s start with the main thing they all have in common: chlorophyll.

Chlorophyll, the substance that makes plants appear green, is a natural blood purifier. What does this mean? Well, consider that everything- from anaerobic bacteria to yeast and fungus- travels through the blood. Our own immune system creates complexes that attack these foreign substances, and chlorophyll assists our bodies in cleaning out the “sludge” that can cause damage. “Chlorophyll helps manage bacterial growth”, Dr. Sonja Pettersen, a naturopathic physician in Arizona explains. “it  helps remove unwanted residues and helps activate enzymes. It’s a natural anti-inflammatory and It’s nutrient dense”. Indeed, chlorophyll-containing plants- such as spirulina, chlorella and wild blue-green algae- are an essential part of the healing armament in Traditional Chinese Medicine and other eastern practices.

As far as chlorophyll’s reputation as a “blood builder”, there may be some scientific basis for this. The molecular structure of red blood cells and chlorophyll is virtually identical except for the center atom- in red blood cells (hemoglobin) it’s iron, in chlorophyll it’s magnesium. Chlorophyll is sometimes called “the blood of plant life”.

Then there’s the issue of acidity and alkalinity. As every gardener knows, the relative acidity and alkalinity of the soil can be determined by measuring it’s Ph. The body also needs a balance of acid and alkaline for optimal health (pH can be measured in urine, in blood and in saliva). “I believe the future of preventative medicine is in managing the pH of your body”, Dr. Pettersen told me. “All kinds of things can cause acidity- stress, rock music, sugar and many foods. But if you balance your body with alkaline substances- such as spirulina, algae and chlorella, all “super greens” with the benefits of chlorophyll- you can maintain the pH of your body at the right level, which goes a long way towards increasing your resistance to disease. At the proper pH level, enzymes flourish and the body mobilizes all its healing forces”.

 

Micro-Algae: Spirulina, chlorella and wild blue-green algae

These members of the micro-algae family contain more chlorophyll than any other foods and were among the first life forms. According to Paul Pitchford in his book “Healing with Whole Foods: Asian Traditions and Modern Nutrition”, micro-algae exist on the edge between the plant and animal kingdoms. In addition to chlorophyll they contain protein, beta-carotene and nucleic acids (RNA and DNA).

Spirulina: Rich with chlorophyll, protein, beta-carotene and the beneficial fatty acid GLA (gamma-linolenic acid), spirulina also contains a pigment called phycocyanin which has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties and which, in one study, was shown to inhibit cancer-colony formation. The cell wall of spirulina is composed of mucopolysaccharides (MPs) which are complex sugars mixed with amino acids, simple sugars and sometimes protein. MPs contain only completely digestible nutrients which makes them very different from the indigestible cell wall found in other micro-algae and other plants.

Chlorella: Similar to spirulina but containing just a little less protein, much less beta-carotene and much more chlorophyll and nucleic acids. It has a tough outer cell wall which is believed to bind with heavy metals, pesticides and other carcinogens, carrying them safely out of the body. It’s chlorophyll content is higher than any food, and it contains higher amounts of fatty acids, about 20% of which are omega-3’s. Unlike spirulina, chlorella does not contain phycocyanin.

Wild blue-green: This micro-alga grows wild in Klamath Lake in Oregon. Under certain conditions it can transform into a very toxic plant- it can cause death in animals within five minutes. However according to experts, wild blue-green has never been found in its toxic state in Klamath Lake, and the products coming out of Klamath Lake are believed to be completely safe, especially since freeze drying denatures the toxin. (I only mention the toxicity issue in case you have visions of harvesting your own blue-green algae from the wild and you don’t know exactly what you’re doing).

 

Cereal Grasses: Wheat and Barley Grass

Wheatgrass and barley grass are both high-chlorophyll foods that are nearly identical, although barley grass may be a bit more digestible. It’s worth mentioning that people with wheat allergies are almost never allergic to wheat in its grass stage. Cereal grasses contain many enzymes, as well as the powerful antioxidant enzyme SOD (superoxide dismutase). They also contain large amounts of the mucopolysaccharides (MPs) discussed above (see “Spriulina”).

Wheatgrass juice: Paul Pritchford and others note that wheatgrass juice is very concentrated and even one ounce has therapeutic value. He recommends not taking more than two ounces at a time- it doesn’t increase the effectiveness. Wheatgass juice is believed to help cleanse the lymph system, restore balance in the body, help remove toxic metals from the cells and restore vitality. One ounce of the juice is believed to have the vitamin and mineral equivalent of over 2 pounds of vegetables, though I have been unable to substantiate this. It is also thought to contain about 30 different enzymes. It should be consumed immediately after juicing.

Barley grass: Barley grass is a great alternative for those who can’t tolerate wheatgrass. It’s milder, though bitter compared to the sweetness of wheatgrass. Young barley leaves have a tremendous ability to absorb nutrients from the soil. Dr. Howard Lutz, director of the Institute of Preventive Medicine in Washington, DC has said that barley juice “improves stamina, sexual energy, clarity of thought and reduces addiction to things that are bad for you. It also improves the texture of the skin and heals the dryness associated with aging”. (Note: “Green magma”, often found in the “green foods/ green drinks” section of the health food store, is the trade name for one well-known brand of barley grass powder).

Ask Dr. Jonny!

In this Ask Dr. Jonny Video, Dr. Jonny answers John Northcote’s question, “What are the best cancer fighting foods?”

Post by Dr. Jonny Bowden.

 

Have a question for Dr. Jonny? Post them, tweet them or send us a private message – Dr. Jonny will do his best to answer them for you!

Portobello Buffalo Tenderloin

Prep time 10 minutes

Cook time 40 to 50 minutes

 

Ingredients

2 tablespoons butter or extra-virgin olive oil

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1/2 cup of green onions, roots removed and thinly sliced

3 Portobello mushroom caps, sliced

1/2 cup red wine

1 1/2 pounds of buffalo tenderloin, trimmed of fat and silver skin

Sea salt and ground black pepper

3 slices non-nitrate turkey bacon

 

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 300°. In a medium skillet over medium heat, melt the butter or heat the oil. Add the garlic and onion and sauté for one minute. Add the mushrooms and heat through for another 1 to 2 minutes. Add the wine and simmer until all of the liquid is dissolved. Butterfly the tenderloin and gently stuff it with the mushroom mixture. Secure with soaked toothpicks and place in a roasting pan, cut side down. (See kitchen notes) Sprinkle the outside with salt-and-pepper and wrap with the bacon. Cook for 30 to 45 minutes, or to desired degree of doneness, but do not let the internal temperature rise more than 160°F. The best practice for a slow cooked roast is to remove it at 3 to 5degrees lower than your desired temperature and let it rest for 10 to 15 minutes, because it will continue to cook for a short period of time.

Yield: six servings

Notes from the kitchen

Buffalo is best cooked medium rare to rare. The more well done it is the dryer the meat will become. The key to roasting buffalo well is to cook it slowly, at a slightly lower temperature than beef. Because buffalo meat’s high myoglobin content, it’s darker red than beef. When Buffalo is cooked to medium doneness, it looks like rare beef. Use a meat thermometer to determine relative doneness because while beef and buffalo look different when cooked, their internal temperatures should be the same.

Here’s how to butterfly and stuff tenderloin. Place the tenderloin on a piece of waxed paper or plastic wrap, holding a sharp chefs knife parallel to the cutting board, slice through the meat, leaving half of an inch connected to the opposite side. Open the tenderloin like a book.  For thicker cuts of meat, you can cover it with more wax paper or plastic wrap and gently pound with a meat mallet or small skillet until it is about 1/2 inch thick. Spread the filler mixture in a thick ribbon down the center and roll the meat up to create a long cylinder. Secure with toothpicks soaked in water for 10 minutes or tie with kitchen string.

Holiday Gift Guide

With all the sales going on everywhere, I thought I’d share with you some healthy options that I can really stand behind. These are perfect gifts for those you love, or for yourself!

 

 

X-ISER

The X-iser allows you to do a number of other exercises besides the standard (and brutal) burst of one minute stair climbing. You can hold weights in your hands. You can do push ups on the steps. You can do all sorts of things, all of which basically come under the heading of “interval training” which I now believe is the most effective way to get in shape, lose fat and increase energy.

 

SUGAR IMPACT DIET

Most people know sugar is bad for them, but few people know the sugar impact of seven common foods can be the real cause of inflammation, bloating, metabolic disorders, fatigue, and weight gain. JJ Virgin’s Sugar Impact Diet will revolutionize how you think about (and eat) sugar. This two-week, low-sugar diet helps retrain taste buds, restore sugar sensitivity, heal the digestive tract, rev up metabolism, and promote rapid weight loss.

 

METABOLIC AFTERSHOCK

Forget P90X and Insanity and all that other stuff that doesn’t apply to real people. Metabolic Aftershock introduces you to “intelligent” exercises that are short, fun, thrilling, and can be done anywhere without weights or gym equipment. This is the smartest, most effective fat burning program on the market, designed by my friend, exercise specialist and naturopathic physician Jade Teta. It’s a tested program of interval training, science-based, and it only takes 15 minutes three times a week. Highly recommended.

 

BULLETPROOF COFFEE

This is my new favorite morning drink. I make it from scratch every day. Aside from tasting awesome, it makes you feel lean, focused, and energized. It’s made with high quality unsalted grass-fed butter, so it tastes great and provides important fatty acids like CLA. Bulletproof Coffee has some terrific and attractive gift packs and starter sets. Once you try this, you’ll never go back to “regular” coffee.

 

VITAL CHOICE

Vital Choice sells wild Alaskan salmon from pristine Alaskan waters, shipped to you perfectly packed and frozen in dry ice. I’ve been eating their salmon for years— as well as their other seafood products, organic berries, nuts and teas. I’ve known these guys for years and I think they’re terrific. The owner, Randy Hartnell, is a third generation Alaskan fisherman who really cares about both health and sustainability. The foodies on your list will think this is the most creative and original gift ever!

 

ORIGINS

This is a fascinating film that eloquently makes the case for the critical relationship between our food supply— and what’s happened to our health— and the condition of the planet. The filmmaker, Dr. Pedram Shojai, took his crew to Africa, and worked his way back to the US where he interviewed a baker’s dozen of the best (and most controversial) people in the health field. Full disclosure: I’m in this film, but honestly it’s really terrific.