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Recipe of the Week: Immune Boosting Lemon Ginger Chicken Soup

Give your immune system the support it needs with this delicious, warming soup! This recipe is packed with ingredients that are good for you, too.

Yields: 16 servings

Ingredients:

  • 2 Tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 pound chicken breast
  • 1 medium onion, diced
  • 3 large carrots, diced
  • 2 celery stalks, diced
  • 3 cloves of garlic, diced
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 medium lemon (zest and juice)
  • 1 fist full of fresh ginger (washed, with skin on)
  • 2 quarts of chicken broth
  • 1 can of organic coconut milk (optional)

Directions:

  1. In a large pot, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and brown.
  2. Add onion, garlic, carrots, celery, salt, and pepper to pan and cook until softened (about 5 minutes).
  3. Add 2 quarts chicken broth and ginger with skin on and bring to a boil. Note: the longer you boil the ginger, the stronger the flavor will be.
  4. Reduce heat, simmer 35-45 minutes
  5. Remove ginger and discard
  6. Remove the chicken, shred and set aside
  7. Add lemon zest and squeeze lemon to taste. Continue to simmer for 15 minutes then add shredded chicken
  8. Option to add 1 can organic coconut milk (it makes the broth creamier!)

Nutrition Facts:

Calories: 130
Total Fat: 8.5 g
Saturated Fat: 5.2 g
Carbohydrates: 4.5 g
Protein: 9.2 g

 

Thank you to Korr.com for sharing this recipe! You can find the original recipe here!

Recipe of the Week: Jackfruit Tacos

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Yield: 8 tacos

This jackfruit turns into a plant-based version of “pulled pork” carnitas.

INGREDIENTS

For the jackfruit

  • 2 15-ounce cans green jackfruit in water or brine
  • 1/2 cup minced yellow onion
  • 3 cloves garlic
  • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 to 1 1/2 tablespoons adobo sauce (from 1 can chipotle peppers in adobo)
  • 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
  • 2 tablespoons tomato paste
  • 2 teaspoons ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoon oregano
  • 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/2 cup water

For the tacos

  • 8 corn tortillas
  • Chopped romaine
  • Fresh cilantro
  • fresh salsa
  • Black beans, to serve on the side*

*To keep the meal filling enough (since jackfruit doesn’t have much protein), try to serve with black beans on the side!

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Rinse and drain the jackfruit in a colander, pressing down to extract as much water as possible. Run your hands through the pieces, pulling and separating them into shreds with your fingers.
  2. Mince the onion. Mince the garlic.
  3. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and sauté for 3 to 4 minutes until tender and fragrant, but before the garlic browns. Add the jackfruit and remaining ingredients (add 1 tablespoon of adobo sauce for a mild recipe, up to 1 1/2 or 2 tablespoons for a spicier recipe). Cook for about 5 minutes on medium low heat until saucy.
  4. If desired, char the tortillas by placing them on an open gas flame on medium for a few seconds per side, flipping with tongs, until they are slightly blackened and warm.
  5. To serve, place the jackfruit, romaine, salsa fresca, and torn cilantro leaves in a warmed tortilla. Serve immediately with refried beans.

 

NUTRITION

Serving Size: 1 Taco

Calories Per Serving: 145

Total Fat 5.4g, Total Carbohydrate 24.5g, Sugars 8.8g, Protein 2.8g

 

Original recipe can be found here!!

Avoiding Overtraining with Athletes

Exercise is an important part of a healthy, balanced lifestyle. Creating the habit of a regular exercise routine provides numerous health benefits including an increase fat free mass, lower blood pressure, and help stimulate cognitive function. It’s important to note that developing a safe and effective exercise regimen is key at any age from younger athletes to senior citizens. Poor exercise selection can result in injury, over reaching and over training. So how can you select the right program to avoid over training?

First, let’s define overtraining. Overtraining is the excessive frequency, volume or intensity of training that results in extreme fatigue, illness or injury (which is often due to lack of sufficient rest, recovery, and perhaps nutrient intake). There are two types of overtraining, aerobic and resistance. Aerobic endurance overtraining results predominantly from an excessive volume overload, this relates to cardiorespiratory training (i.e. running, cycling). Training within the appropriate heart rate zone is important for avoiding overreaching or overtraining. Equipment such as a heart rate monitors are great for those exercising at high intensity workloads to assess target heart rate zones and track progress over time.

The second type of overtraining is resistance overtraining. Resistance overtraining primarily results from excessive high-intensity overload; more specifically too many repetitions using heavy weights or too rapid a rate of progression. For prevention of overtraining, an important component would be a properly planned periodization program developed by an exercise physiologist. This type of programming allows the body to adapt to the stress (exercise) that it is being placed under at a safe rate of progression and volume of the workload.

Different types of overtraining (aerobic, resistance) have been reported to have different signs and symptoms, although performance decrements are commonly a key aspect of both. Signs and symptoms of over training are under or impaired performance, fatigue or exhaustion, mood disturbances, apathy, disturbed sleep, loss of appetite and irritability. There is a high degree of variability between individuals with regard to developing overtraining. Training practices that cause some individuals to thrive may lead to overtraining in others. It is critical to have sufficient rest between training days to facilitate the recovery process. The amount of rest, however, depends on the duration and intensity of the training program and should be individualized for each person. Periods of high-volume or high-intensity training (especially in high level athletes) require sufficient recovery.

 

Brandon Ayala, CSCS

4 Reasons to Keep Going to the Gym

The latest outbreak of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has a lot of people asking themselves: should I keep going to the gym?

For most people, the answer to if they should keep going to the gym is an assured YES.

Going to the gym—or just exercising in general—is good for the immune system, can lower stress at a time where everyone is a little… stressed, and can provide a much-needed dose of social support and camaraderie (from a safe distance of one meter or three feet away, if need be).

This article highlights four reasons—backed up by evidence—that members should keep going to the gym, including:

  1. Gyms Are Clean and Safe
  2. Physical Activity and Exercise Can Help Boost Immune Function
  3. Exercise Lowers Stress
  4. Physical Activity is Good for Metabolic Health

1. Gyms Are Clean and Safe

Gyms thoroughly clean their facilities on a regular basis, and ask members to wipe down equipment after use. Over the past few months, many have enhanced their cleaning policies in light of the coronavirus outbreak.

Most experts agree that gyms pose no specific threat compared to other areas of public gatherings like churches, malls, or grocery stores.

Paul Sax, M.D., medical director of the division of infectious diseases at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, told Time Magazine, “the gym is not a place that’s necessarily riskier than other communal areas. I wouldn’t say there’s anything particular about people sweating that makes them more contagious.”

Robert Glatter, M.D., an emergency physician at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, told Yahoo Finance, “I would still go about your normal activities at this point. Just as you normally should—even before the arrival of coronavirus—always clean your hands thoroughly after using exercise equipment with hand gel or use bleach-based wipes. It’s also important to avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth since this is how the virus gains entry into your body.”

“At this point, people should certainly keep exercising,” says Aubree Gordon, associate professor of epidemiology at the University of Michigan’s School of Public Health, in a recent CNBC article.

Michael Knight, assistant professor of medicine at the George Washington School of Medicine and Health Services, echoed similar sentiments to CNBC’s Make It. He said that he would still encourage his patients to “continue getting moderate amounts of physical activity to lower their overall risk.”

2. Physical Activity and Exercise Can Help Boost Immune Function

Several studies have linked physical activity to improvements in immune markers and immune health. An extensive review published in the Journal of Sport and Health Science outlined how acute bouts of exercise—less than 60 minutes—enhanced the circulation of immunoglobins, natural killer (NK) cells, T cells, and other immune cells that play critical roles in the body’s defense against pathogens, and can help reduce inflammation.

An analysis of randomized controlled trials conducted as part of that review found that people assigned to long-term moderate exercise programs—ranging eight weeks to one year—saw lower incidence and duration of upper respiratory tract infections (URTI), with reductions as high as 40-50% among people who were active on a daily basis. A similar analysis of results from long term population studies found a 28% reduction in URTI in groups with higher levels of physical activity and fitness.

Several human and rodent studies, summarized in a recent New York Times article, indicated that maintaining physical fitness is good for the immune system, and even short bouts of exercise can amplify the body’s ability to fight off harmful germs.

3. Exercise Lowers Stress

Physical activity can also have a more indirect, positive effect on immune function by mitigating stress. Research out of Carnegie Melon found that people with higher levels of psychological stress were more susceptible to the common cold.

In addition to the immune system benefit, stress can have an obvious negative effect on mental health and well-being. But exercise can help with that.

A study published in Frontiers in Physiology showed that regular exercise could create greater emotional resilience to acute, short term stress in healthy people. Respondents to an American Psychological Association “Stress in America” survey reported positive effects of exercise, including:

  • better mood
  • feeling good about themselves
  • feeling less stressed

According to the survey, 43% of Americans report they use exercise to manage their stress, and 62% of those people found it to be extremely or very effective.

4. Physical Activity is Good for Metabolic Health

Research has linked poor metabolic health to poorer immune system function, which is one reason people with chronic medical conditions like diabetes are at higher risk of developing—and having complications from—infections like flu and coronavirus. Studies have also found that people with diabetes and high blood glucose are more susceptible to infection, and people with obesity and diabetes have greater immune suppression than metabolically healthy people with obesity.

Evidence has also linked good metabolic health and higher levels of physical activity. Spending more time active lowered the odds of metabolic syndrome, and science has linked both acute and long term exercise to lower blood glucose levels.

Additionally, long term studies show 30 minutes of moderate exercise, such as walking briskly, for 30 minutes a day can reduce the risk of diabetes by 30%.

What is that Soreness After a Workout?

When you exercise, you are challenging your muscles to perform work by lifting weights or moving your own body weight. By overcoming new exercises or workloads, you create microscopic tears in the muscles. The body’s healing process repairs those tiny muscle tears and rebuilds them stronger so that the next time you perform the same strenuous activities, you are more capable and likely will not experience the same soreness.

That sore muscle feeling that comes after a workout is called Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS) and occurs during the time the body is healing itself. DOMS often sets in about 24-48 hours after performing strenuous activity. DOMS is completely normal to experience after workout; it may be more noticeable when first starting an exercise routine, not working out for a long time, or when varying or incorporating exercises into a regimen. DOMS directly affects the muscles used during the workout period (i.e. after performing squats or lunges, the leg muscles may be sore after).

DOMS is how the body adapts to change, and while it cannot be avoided DOMS, there are things that can be done to help recovery. Although there is no scientific evidence to support speeding up the recovery of DOMS, there are basic things that muscles need to repair:

  • Hydration
  • Protein
  • Carbohydrates

As a general rule of thumb, on a daily basis hydrating with half your body weight in ounces. Then when exercising, increasing that consumption by a glass of water or two. Depending on the intensity of your workout, this may help the recovery time. For example, if you weigh 150 lbs you should drink about 75oz of water per day (which is about 9-10 glasses). Having a 200 calorie snack after your workout that is a mixture of protein and carbs is also ideal for recovery from DOMS. There is no escaping DOMS, so embrace the sore feeling and think of it as a marker that you have put in the work to see changes in yourself.

 

– Corynne Duprey, MS, CSCS