Lynbrook | New Hyde Park | NY

physiologists

Recipe of the Week: One Pot Chicken & Spring Veggies

This recipe comes from the kitchen of our own Exercise Physiologist, Corynne! All you need is 30 minutes and one pan to make this delicious meal. Feel free to substitute your favorite vegetables. Thanks for sharing!

Ingredients:

  • 2 Garlic Cloves, minced
  • 1-2 Tbsp Olive oil
  • 1 lb. Chicken breast, cubed
  • 1 cup Asparagus, halved
  • 1/2 cup Mushrooms, diced
  • 1/4 cup Sun dried tomatoes, thinly sliced
  • 1 tsp Garlic powder
  • Salt & Pepper, to taste

Directions:

  1. In a large pan on medium heat, cook olive oil with garlic and sun dried tomatoes, for about 5 minutes. Remove contents from pan and put in a bowl on the side.
  2. Cook the mushrooms in remaining olive oil (you can add more oil if needed) for about 5 minutes or until tender and lightly browned. Season with garlic powder, salt and pepper as desired. Remove from pan and put in the bowl with the sun dried tomatoes.
  3. Add the asparagus to the pan and cook for about 10 minutes or until tender. Set aside in same bowl as the sun dried tomatoes and mushrooms. Then cook chicken breast for 5-7 min or until lightly browned with garlic, garlic powder, salt and pepper as desired.
  4. Put everything back in the pan and mix together for 30 seconds. Enjoy!

Recipe of the Week: BUFFALO CHICKEN STUFFED SPAGHETTI SQUASH

Let’s talk about twice baked squash loaded with chicken, veggies, and savory buffalo sauce. Make it for the family or hide the leftovers for yourself!

PREP TIME: 15 MINS
COOK TIME: 45 MINS
TOTAL TIME: 1 HOUR
YIELD: 4 Servings

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 ¼ lbs chicken breast, cooked and shredded
  • 1 medium spaghetti squash, halved
  • 2 ribs celery, thinly sliced
  • 2 green onions, white and green parts thinly sliced
  • ½ cup diced red bell pepper
  • ½ cup Mild Buffalo Sauce
  • Optional: ¼ cup Ranch Dressing or Homemade
  • Optional: ¼ cup crumbled blue cheese

INSTRUCTIONS:
TO ROAST THE SQUASH:

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
  2. Slice both ends from squash and discard. Stand squash up on one of it’s cut ends and use a large knife to cut the squash in half lengthwise. Scoop seeds and stringy insides out using a large spoon.
  3. Place squash cut-side down on the baking sheet.
  4. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until squash is tender. Baking time will depend on the size of your squash, larger squash requiring a longer cook time. When squash is tender, allow to cool slightly before using a fork to gently scrape the squash into a large bowl. Reserve the squash shells.
  5. While squash is roasting, cook the chicken.

TO COOK THE CHICKEN:

Directions for Instant Pot: Insert rack into inner pot. Add 1 cup water or broth. Lay chicken on rack. Secure lid and select ‘Poultry’ setting and increase time to 17 minutes (19 if the breasts are really thick). At the end of the cooking time, allow pressure to naturally release for 5 minutes then flip the vent valve and release the remaining pressure. Move chicken to a cutting board to cool slightly before shredding with two forks.

Directions for Stovetop: Place a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add 1 tsp. avocado or coconut oil and swirl pan to coat with the oil. Add chicken and ½ cup water. Once the water begins to simmer, reduce heat and cover. Cook chicken for 15-18 minutes or until cooked through. Move chicken to a cutting board to cool slightly before shredding with two forks.

TO ASSEMBLE THE STUFFED SQUASH:

  1. Place squash shreds, chicken, celery, onions, peppers and Buffalo sauce in a large bowl. Toss well to coat. Spoon squash mixture into the squash shells.
  2. Return the stuffed shells back to the baking sheet and place in 350°F oven for 10-15 minutes or until heated through.

NUTRITION:
SERVING SIZE: 1/4TH RECIPE
CALORIES: FAT: 14g, CARBOHYDRATES: 13g, PROTEIN: 36g

Louise’s Recipe Notes: Prepped the chicken breast ahead of time using my slow cooker with a layer of chicken broth on the bottom, then added a drop of olive oil, salt & pepper. I also used both a red & green pepper to add more vegetables. Since I’m not a fan of bleu cheese, I swapped that out for thinly sliced cheddar on top when it went back in the oven!

Original recipe from The Real Food RDs can be found here!

Recipe of the Week: Chicken and Lentil Chili

Time to break out that slow cooker and make this hearty chili the whole family will enjoy! Loaded with beans, chicken and vegetables, it’s easy to prep in the morning and let it simmer all day while you work from home.

Ingredients

  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 2 cups chopped carrots
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
  • 1 cup dried brown lentils, rinsed
  • 1 cup dried black beans, rinsed
  • 4 cups no-salt-added, chicken broth
  • 1 8-ounce can no-salt-added tomato sauce
  • 3 tablespoons chili powder
  • 1 tablespoon plus 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup reduced-fat sour cream
  • 1/2 cup (2 oz) shredded cheddar cheese
  • 1 tablespoon fresh cilantro leaves

Directions

  1. Coat slow cooker with cooking spray. Place onion, carrots and garlic in bottom. Top with chicken, lentils and black beans. Stir in broth, tomato sauce, chili powder, cumin and salt.
  2. Cook on low for 8 hours. Stir before serving. Top each serving with 1 tablespoon sour cream and 1 tablespoon cheese. Garnish evenly with cilantro.

Nutrition Information

Serves: 8
Serving Size: 1 1/2 cups

Per serving: Calories: 282
Total Fat: 6g; Cholesterol: 38mg; Sodium: 448mg; Carbohydrate: 39g; Dietary Fiber: 18g; Sugar: 6g; Protein: 28g

 

Original recipe from My Fitness Pal can be found here!

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

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

How Much Physical Activity is Enough Physical Activity?

Time and time again, the benefits of Physical Activity (PA) have been shown to have many positive effects on our health including: improved balance, improved cardiovascular health, muscular strength, and improved overall quality of life (learn even more here!). Much research has been done into the benefits of PA, but not much can be proven in the way of recovering from bouts of exercise, and here’s why…

The recommended exercise prescription for adults is 150-300 minutes of moderate intensity aerobic activity per week and at least two resistance training sessions per week. These are set to have the most positive effect on human health based on recent research (Ostojic, 2016). The way that a person recovers from these types of activities varies and is all subjective. Factors such as current fitness level, age, rest levels, diet, and hydration all play a role into how someone recovers from exercise. If a trained person lifts weights three times a week regularly, they will need less time to recover than someone who does not exercise routinely and then starts a similar program.

We can scale recovery the same way we scale exercise, by using the F.I.T.T. principle:

F: Frequency– Bouts of exercise that happen more often (i.e. 1 day/ week v. 3 days/ week) will require more scheduled rest in between

I: Intensity– More Intense bouts of exercise (i.e. higher perceived exertion, greater percentage of maximal heart rate) require larger rest periods than less intense bouts of exercise

T: Time– A longer session of exercise (long runs, big lifting sessions) need longer time before the next bout of exercise to ensure a full recovery

T: Type– The type of recovery you do and type of exercise you do can greatly vary recovery times. Someone who balances nutrition and rest will recover faster. If someone has not rode a bike in a year, they may feel more sore afterwards than someone who cycles regularly.

The key takeaway is that recovery is subjective; two people of the same fitness levels doing the same workout may experience different levels of soreness and fatigue during the post-exercise recovery period. The most important thing that someone can do is listen to their body and scale their workouts and recoveries accordingly.

 

By Matthew Rhodes, MS

 

Sources

Bishop, P.A, Jones E., & Woods A.K. (2008). Recovery from training: a brief review.
Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research., 22(3):1015-1024.

Ostojic SM. Editorial: post-exercise recovery: fundamental and interventional physiology. Front Physiol. 2016;7:3.