The High-Protein Cookbook - Linda West Eckhardt [1]
But the most important distinction we make is that our recipes taste good. With us, taste is number one. If our dinners don’t have exciting flavor profiles, we know we’ll never stick with any change in eating patterns. This book is a short course in high-protein cooking. The recipes use a short list of fast and fresh ingredients with clear instructions. The recipes are simple enough for the beginner cook and interesting enough for experts. Best of all, you don’t have to rely on fake foods or phony processed diet dinners to get your weight under control. You can use real food, real cooking techniques, and you can have dinner on the table in a hurry—in 30 minutes or less.
WHY HIGH PROTEIN?
After fifteen years of carbo loading, a period in which Americans have watched one another getting fatter and fatter, we’ve decided to face facts: Empty calories will eventually equal extra pounds. Like numerous others, we found that by eliminating many of the carbohydrate-rich foods that formed the backbone of our diets and boosting our intake of lean protein, we not only lost weight, we felt better, had more energy, and saw some pretty significant changes in our blood cholesterol levels. Across the country people are embracing a diet based less on overly refined carbohydrates and more on lean protein, fruits, and vegetables, and they are seeing positive results. It has benefited so many, in fact, that we believe a fundamental shift away from excess carbohydrates will prevail, just as our understanding of the role of saturated fats has caused a sea change in the way America eats.
We want to make one thing clear. It doesn’t take a doctor to tell you that a diet consisting entirely of enormous grilled steaks or chicken breasts with green salads on the side will not sustain good health. In fact, it can lead to serious health risks. That’s why we’ve pursued a moderate path. Our recipes preclude the dangers of a radical protein diet, which potentially puts the body into a state of ketosis, by incorporating generous amounts of healthy vegetables and fruits. You’ll see that all of our recipes include a protein and vegetable or, at the very least, a vegetable suggestion. We truly believe the best shot at good nutrition is to eat a wide and varied diet of unprocessed foods, including sufficient protein for health and endurance, and five vegetables and fruits every day to provide the best quality of complex carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, and sufficient fiber for optimum health.
A Word About Portion Size
In order to lose weight, we do have to count calories. They are nothing more than the energy units necessary to fuel our own personal furnaces. When we feed our machines excess energy, our bodies use what they need and store the rest for a rainy day in the form of fat.
The recipes in this book do not offer unhealthy, outsized portions. Three to 4 ounces of meat or up to 6 ounces of fish provide more than enough protein and are sufficient to keep you satisfied until your next meal. In restaurants today, it is not uncommon for each diner to be presented with 8, 10, or even 12 ounces of protein, and a meal that represents about 2,500 calories overall. This is absurd. Unless you are able to radically increase your daily exercise output, you will not lose weight if your caloric intake exceeds about 1,500 per day. All of our recipes indicate clearly what a portion size should look like. Should you find yourself staring at a typically gargantuan restaurant serving, here