4 Hour Body Zone

THIS is breakfast!

If you would like to keep up to date with tips, resources and info - sign up for my 4HBZ newsletter! And, if you are looking for some good Paleo/Slow Carb-friendly recipes you should check out Primal Blueprint Quick & Easy Meals or Everyday Paleo - they have been great resources for me!

March 4, 2012 By Brian Leave a Comment

Big Breakfast Frittata

6 eggs
1 zucchini diced
1/4 yellow onion diced
2-3 slices bacon
2 turkey sausage patties chopped into little pieces
tomato
1/4 cup shredded cheese – optional (disclaimer: cheese is a no-no on 4hb and Paleo – but it tastes oh so good on a frittata!)
salt/pepper to taste

preheat oven to 400 degrees

In a medium skillet fry bacon until almost done then add diced zucchini, diced onions, and turkey onion until all is cooked up nicely (probably about 5-8 minutes after placing in pan)

in a separate bowl scramble all 6 eggs and season with salt and pepper.

transfer bacon/sausage/zucchini/onion mix to a greased small baking pan, add in eggs, mix everything up well and top with cheese if using and tomato slices – bake in 400 degree oven for approximately 20 minutes – take out, transfer to a plate and serve…

Filed Under: Recipes

Links and other interesting stuff

February 19, 2012 By Brian 1 Comment

Mexican-American youth get fat as they lose “native” eating habits

This notion isn’t shocking – anytime you move away from a real food diet towards one like the American diet of highly processed foods, preservatives, and added sugars you are going to see weight gain. What’s interesting is noting the acculturation of the Mexican youth leading to the weight gain.

Life As A Plate

another food blog – I feel oddly connected to her – she’s from Jersey, I’m from NY (Long Island) – she relocated to the midwest (Iowa), I relocated to the midwest (Oklahoma) – she’s following a “paleo” style diet and doing well, I’m doing the same…I think things end there – her blog is beautiful and lots of nice pics of her food making me hungry…

Why Fit TV

Okay so the name could use a little work – but this is a new venture by fellow blogger and 4HB success story Justin (from MyFourHourBodyDiary.com). Nice quick vid with Justin and his personal trainer partner – they jump in to the question of whether you can have shortcuts. At just about 6 minutes it’s the right amount of time – not too long, but long enough to put out some good content.

An Apple A Day Is Not Enough

Taylor Mali is a spoken word poet/artist/teacher – this is a great video pointing out the importance of nutrition and diet for our kids. As a school counselor by profession – I think this is more important than any subject we can teach and test on. Not everyone will go into a field requiring higher levels of math, or the ability to write 30 page essays, or name the signers of the Declaration of Independence – but all of our kids will have a job called “Life” and learning about health and nutrition should be of utmost importance in our public schools, unfortunately it’s a secondary (and often-times tertiary thought, if it’s thought about at all). For example, here where I work we do not have a health program. It’s a damn shame I say – but, anyway, Taylor Mali’s videos are awesome – check this one out!

Do you have any links I should be aware of? Please let me know about them in the comments or email me!

Filed Under: General Tagged With: interesting stuff, links

PAGG Stack Review

February 16, 2012 By Brian 1 Comment

Review of the two most popular PAGG Stack Brands

Most people who have started following the 4 hour body diet/slow carb diet are familiar with the PAGG stack advocated by Tim Ferriss in The 4 Hour Body – but I have had some questions about the PAGG stack and supplements from people who are following paleo/Whole30 type diets and those who have asked about slow carb but haven’t read the book.

I’m going to use this post to compare and review the two most popular (in my opinion) brands of PAGG stacks on the market right now: PAGG from Pareto Nutrition and PAGG by NewHealthSolutions

So, let’s back up briefly and break down the PAGG stack: PAGG is the abbreviation for 4 supplements that have shown some efficacy in helping with fat loss and with limiting rebound weight gain. The idea behind the stack is that you take it 4 times/day (at breakfast, at lunch, at dinner, and at bedtime). Each component serves a purpose and they are:

P – Policosanol: 20-25 mg, used for bodyfat reduction – but studies are inconclusive, this is taken only at bedtime

A – Alpha Lipoic Acid: an antioxidant and is used here to help store digested carbs in the muscle/liver (as glycogen) as opposed to storing as fat, up to 300 mg taken 4 times/day

G – Green Tea Flavonols: used to inhibit storage of carbs as fat and as a possible protector from rebound weight gain, 325 mg taken 4 times/day (better to find decaffeinated version in case you are sensitive)

G – Garlic Extract: also used to enhance fat loss, 200 mg taken 4 times day

Now, you could go to your local nutrition warehouse store and purchase each of these separately, in which case I think it would be a royal pain in the a** to take all of these pills and figure out the dosages you need and when – OR – you could find a company producing a PAGG stack in a one-serving form. That is what Pareto and NewHealthSolutions do.

So let’s compare the two brands:

PAGG Stack – New Health Solutions:

Safety/Accurate dosages – Pharmaceutical Grade GMP*
Affordable - 30 Day supply for right at $60 – is the best deal I’ve found.
Super Convenient – 1 tablet at each meal, and 1 tablet at bedtime
Tablets – natural tablets – no dyes or colors added
Additional B-Complex - Biotin is added in to account for including a B-complex as recommended in 4HB

When New Health first released their supplement stack – I believe there were some misunderstandings about dosages but they corrected their formulation.

PAGG – Pareto Nutrition

Safe – Pharmaceutical Grade GMP*
(fairly) Affordable – $92 per month with free international delivery for purchase of 2 months or more. Slightly cheaper cost as purchasing everything separate, but with the added convenience.
Super Convenient – again, 1 tablet at each meal, and 1 tablet at bedtime, from a personal perspective – I prefer swallowing capsules to tablets as I feel they are easier to swallow
High Quality – The proper dosages of high quality ingredients
Relevant – they keep their product in line with the recommendations in 4HB – even including the decaffeinated EGCG that Tim Ferriss revealed as a “typo” a few months after the book was published – Pareto was on it and ensured their stack met the recommendations
Additional B-Complex - Biotin is added in to account for including a B-complex as recommended in 4HB
Customer Service – I have had nothing but wonderful customer service in dealing with Pareto – if I email them, I normally hear back (and not a form email) within 24 hours.

Between the two companies it’s hard to find things to fault them on. I do believe Pareto’s insistence in going with gel capsules and more expensive formulations leads to the increased cost – but the cost for Pareto’s PAGG stack is still fairly affordable (especially when considered against purchasing everything individually).

So, this really is a toss up – the two factors that I could see swaying consumer’s decisions would be the cost savings of NHS ($60) vs Pareto ($92) and the preference for natural tablets vs gel capsules.

Personally, I am comfortable recommending both brands, but that being said – I would purchase the Pareto Nutrition PAGG stack.

What do you think? Sound off in the comments – I’d like to hear your take on this!

*Pharmaceutical Grade GMP: Standard used to manufacturing medicine with no deviations allowed. If the label says 5mg then product must be tested to have 5mg, no more, no less.

Filed Under: General Tagged With: New Health Solutions, PAGG, PAGG stack, Pareto, review

We’re on Facebook!

February 11, 2012 By Brian Leave a Comment

Okay – so after a year (plus) of following the 4HB and paleo diets and running this website – I’ve decided I should put up a Facebook page – if you’re on Facebook, please go here and like our page and share us with your friends!

Like Us Facebook!

I’ll post things to the page that wouldn’t necessarily need to go on the blog and I’ll have some other things going on over there.

Filed Under: General

Guest Post – Demoned Eggs

January 27, 2012 By Brian Leave a Comment

This is a guest post from my friend Laura Dinstell. She is a fantastic home chef and shares awesome slow-carb and paleo recipes at SlowCarbFoodie.com.

Deviled eggs are always a crowd pleaser at parties (especially if your crowd is Paleo and SlowCarb folks), but sometimes you want to whip up something a bit more interesting for your taste buds.
Enter the “demoned egg” – a signature dish from the Brixton in San Francisco loaded with crab meat and bacon and fresh herbs.

I had these last time I visited San Francisco, and after a bit of searching, I found the recipe at endlesssimmer.com and had to make them on my own.

These are not your everyday hardboiled eggs but something to whip up for a party or special occasion.

Ingredients

6 hard boiled eggs ( Check out my original Deviled Egg post to see how I make perfect hard boiled eggs)
2 T mayo (Make your own super-healthy and natural mayo with macadamia nut oil)
1 pinch cayenne pepper or paprika
1 T minced shallots
1 T minced celery
½ T chopped parsley
½ T Dijon mustard
salt and pepper to taste
¼ pound Dungeness crab meat
2 T meyer lemon extra virgin olive oil (regular olive oil would work too – you may wish to add a squeeze of lemon)
2 T chopped chives
2 strips cooked bacon, minced

Directions

Peel and halve eggs, and pop out yolks.
Make yolks nice and creamy by either pushing through sieve or using a stick blender or potato masher.
Mix with the mayo, cayenne, shallots, celery, parsley, Dijon, salt and pepper.
Mix crab, lemon oil and chopped chives together.
Put the yolk mix through a piping bag and pipe into egg halves. If you don’t have a piping bag, it’s just as easy to load the yolk into a ziplock back and push it all toward one corner. Snip off the corner with scissors and tighten the back of the bag so you can put pressure on it and squeeze it out gently into the egg halves.
Top with the crab mix and bacon.

That’s it! Pull this puppy out next time you need to take a dish to share or are entertaining guests. Or even if you feel like spoiling yourself with an uber-delicious slow carb or paleo snack!

Wish you could stick even closer to your diet but aren’t sure where to start? Then you should check out SlowCarbFoodie’s new e-book, “10 Slow-Carb Shortcuts Even Tim Ferriss Doesn’t Know About (Yet)”! It’s free when you sign up for their newsletter, which goes out once a month and is also chock full of tips and recipes.

*photo credit endlesssimmer.com

Filed Under: Recipes

Starting 2012 Off Right

January 1, 2012 By Brian 2 Comments

3 egg omelet with leftover shredded pork shoulder and tomato with a side of apple and black coffee – hope your 2012 gets started off right too!

Filed Under: General

36 Little Things I Learned in 2011

January 1, 2012 By Brian 3 Comments

Here we are – 2011 just ended and we’re looking at making new goals and progress for 2012 – but first I’d like to share some things I’ve learned this past year (and in honor of my 36th birthday – I opted to come up with 36 little lessons)

Losing 20 pounds is not as difficult as it seems
Losing 20 pounds does require discipline though
Cheat days are overrated
Cheat meals on the other hand, are not
It is possible to lose weight without counting calories, or counting points, or counting blocks, etc…
It is also possible to lose weight without using expensive supplements and “thermogenics”
But, some supplements actually do help your weight loss progress though – specifically, Vitamin D3, Omega-3 Fatty Acids, and if you have a little extra money to spend, a high quality PAGG Stack
“Working Out” as exercise sucks
Playing as exercise doesn’t
Kettlebell swings are not difficult, but they will make you f***ing sore as hell after the first few times you do them
Conventional wisdom is not always right
Most people won’t accept things that go against conventional wisdom
Most people won’t trust what you tell them unless you have certain letters after your name
Most people will trust what they see when they see how easily you’ve lost weight
Telling people you read that “4 Hour Body” book will elicit one of two responses:

“What is that?”
“Is that the book about the 15 minute orgasm?”

Telling people you are eating “Paleo” will elicit all sorts of responses, such as:

“What is that?”
“Oh, that’s the caveman diet?”
“Cavemen died at 18, not a very good diet to follow”
“You know, caveman didn’t use forks”
“You know, caveman didn’t drink Diet Coke”
“You know, cavemen didn’t eat bacon”

Your best response to all of those statements: “umhm” – don’t bother responding, most people are resistant to these dietary changes.
The best people you can follow to learn about Paleo: Mark Sisson, Robb Wolf, Loren Cordain
Art DeVany is too arrogant to be worth following (plus his New Evolution Diet is a horrible book – unless you like reading people write platitudes about themselves)
Gluten-free is going to be a HUGE TREND (it isn’t yet – but it’s quickly building thanks to books like “Wheat Belly”)
It is very easy to transition to a Paleo style diet – especially once you’ve followed Slow Carb/4HB or Gluten Free for a while
The best thing about Paleo: Fruit!
The worst thing about Paleo: no pizza
The good thing about Paleo (and 4HB): it’s not Gospel – you can have a cheat
Being 80% good – and not struggling is better than being 100% good but fighting to say no to certain foods
Most people cannot do anything 100% – especially diet, setting out with the mindset you will be perfect will only end in failure
Keeping a journal, really does work.
Said journal works much better when other people have access to it (read: a website/blog)
Setting up a blog is dead-simple
People are more encouraging than they are sometimes given credit for
A spouse (or significant other, or friend) that will support you even if (especially if) they don’t agree with the diet necessarily, is a God-send (love you babe)
I can eat at McDonald’s and not feel guilty
How to cook is something that should be taught in school (it’s certainly a more useful skill than trig, or knowing what the denouement of a story is)
Cooking is a man-ly chore
Crockpots are the lazy person’s best friend when it comes to eating right
Putting together a cookbook is a tedious process

I learned a lot more than just that in 2011 – but these were some of the highlights. Here’s hoping your 2011 was wonderful, and your 2012 will be even better!

Any good lessons you have to share? Post them in the comments! Did you like this? If so, please share it on Facebook, Google+, or Twitter!

Filed Under: General

A Paleo Night Before Christmas

December 24, 2011 By Brian Leave a Comment

In honor of the Christmas Season and my newfound love of Paleo and 4 Hour Body (at least new in 2011) – I penned (sort of plagiarized) the following poem. While the original still is a classic – I’m sure my “Paleo” version is bound to rank right up there with the other Nights Before Christmas versions!

Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a cookie was baking, (my kids think I’m a louse!).
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that Paleo Claus soon would be there.

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of bacon slabs danced in their heads.
And ma in her nightgown, and I in my jammies,
Had just settled in after working out my hammies.

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the door I flew like a flash,
Forgot it was locked, hit my head, got a gash.

The moon on the yard of the new-fallen snow
Gave the impression of mid-day to objects below.
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and six Paleo gurus.

With a healthy, strong driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be Paleo St. Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name!
“Now Sisson! now, Ferriss! now, Wolfie and Fragoso!
On, Dallas and Melissa! , you Whole30′ers are LOCO!

To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!”
And then, in a twinkling, I heard in the drive
The grunting and gnawing of meat eaters made me feel alive.

As I went back inside rubbing my head,
Down the chimney Paleo Nicholas came (sans bread).

He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with butter and bacon grease.
A bundle of Primal Pacs and Paleo Desserts he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a caveman, ripping into his pack.

His eyes-how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!
His cheeks were healthy and rosy, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow.

The stump of deer jerky he held tight in his teeth,
And the smokey cure smelled deliciously sweet.
He had a broad face and no sign of a round belly,
So I’m pretty certain he gave up breads and the jelly!

He was solid and strong, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed (and sort of cringed) when I saw him, (because I had just ate biscotti)
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon let me know I had nothing to dread.

He spoke not a word, but went straight to working,
And filled all the stockings, with fresh veggies, nuts and some jerky.

He sprang to his sleigh, to his Paleo team gave a roar,
And away they all flew just as quick as before.
But I heard him exclaim, as he flew out of sight,
“Happy Christmas to all, and to all a Primal Good Night!”

Merry Christmas to all of my friends and readers! May you have a blessed, and Healthy Holiday!

Filed Under: General

Makin’ Bacon

December 18, 2011 By Brian 1 Comment

Any self respecting meat-eater understands the utter enjoyment and deliciousness that is BACON

The aroma of recently cooked bacon is like a dream come true. As I write this I’m drooling a bit…

I love the taste, the texture, the smell, everything about bacon is great.

Everything that is, except for the nitrates and nitrites that all commercial bacon producers use to make their cured stuff.

Then came the report about pork products being linked (not causing mind you, but more likely correlated with) brain cancers. Now, that alone scares me…but I don’t know if I can give up my bacon.

So I decided to find a way to enjoy something like bacon, without the extra additives and without breaking the bank purchasing expensive cuts of natural pork (that I can’t find around here anyway!)

And I think I’ve hit on the perfect compromise: I went to a local butcher and asked if they had any cuts of pork belly (where the bacon comes from) – and they had something called “fresh side” – which was simply sliced belly that hasn’t been cured, seasoned, salted…in short nothing has been done to it except freezing.

I bought a couple pounds of it (I think just shy of 3 pounds) – it wasn’t expensive (off the top of my head I don’t recall the actual cost – but I do recall it being affordable)

I thawed it out, put some liquid smoke on it, sprinkled some smoked sea salt and let it “marinate” for about an hour. I put it in a pre-heated 450 degree oven and baked it in a cast-iron pan for about 20 minutes or so, until it was nice and crispy the way I like it. I dried the pieces on some paper towels and enjoyed with three eggs.

It was great! If you’re looking to try to change things up and want to avoid the unnecessary chemicals – I suggest you try this out!

What do you need:

1/2 pound of fresh side (ask for this at a good butcher – not at your supermarket butcher)
1 tbsp liquid smoke (I used hickory)
2 tsp of smoked sea salt

Place pork side in a bowl, add liquid smoke and sea salt and let sit for at least a half hour, preferably an hour. Place in pre-heated 450 degree oven – check every 5 minutes or so, for doneness. When one side looks almost done, flip over “bacon” pieces and finish roasting until desired doneness.

If you like this you should check out some of my other 4 hour body and Paleo diet recipes – and I would really appreciate if you would share this – just tweet or facebook or link to G+

Filed Under: Recipes Tagged With: bacon

Masitas de Puerco

December 11, 2011 By Brian 3 Comments

My brother likes cooking Spanish/Caribbean food, and he recently described a dish of “fried” pork bits/pieces.

I immediately thought of how I could make this into one of my 4 hour body recipes – and below, is the recipe I used.

The originally recipe called for frying the pork chunks in lard – I decided to go with coconut oil, it just seems like it would have a healthier fat profile and was more readily available.

2-2 1/4 lbs of boneless pork shoulder, cut into 2 inch pieces
mojo marinade – find this in the latin section of your supermarket or make your own:

1 cup orange juice
juice of 1/2 lemon
juice of 1/2 lime
tbsp minced garlic
salt and pepper

1/2 medium onion, sliced into rounds
2 cups salted water
1/4 cup coconut oil

Marinate pork shoulder pieces in mojo – preferably for at least 3 hours, but up to overnight. When ready to cook, drain mojo and lightly pat dry pork pieces.

In a large pot or dutch oven, place pork pieces, 2 cups water, and the 1/4 cup of coconut oil. Bring mixture to a boil then lower to medium/low heat. Let water boil out of mix until all that is left is the oil.

MAKE SURE TO WATCH THE MEAT AT THIS POINT – once the water boils out, the meat can quickly burn. So stay close to the stove. The meat will essentially fry in the coconut oil. When meat is well browned, transfer to a paper towel lined plate and pat dry.

At this point you can squeeze a little lime juice over the meat and sprinkle with some sea salt. Serve warm with a side of black beans and salad for a perfect well rounded 4 hour body meal

Filed Under: Recipes Tagged With: pork, recipes

4 Hour Body Zone

THIS is breakfast!

Big Breakfast Frittata

Links and other interesting stuff

PAGG Stack Review

Review of the two most popular PAGG Stack Brands

We’re on Facebook!

Guest Post – Demoned Eggs

Ingredients

Directions

Starting 2012 Off Right

36 Little Things I Learned in 2011

A Paleo Night Before Christmas

Makin’ Bacon

Masitas de Puerco

Recommended:

4 Hour Body Blogs

Paleo/Primal

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