ANABOLIC EATING: NUMERO TRES

ANABOLIC EATING: NUMERO TRES

By Shane Robert

I’ve written a lot on this blog about nutrition and, specifically, protein. (See Anabolic Eating Part 1 & Part 2). The emphasis on protein comes from the fact that most people tend to undereat it to a rather large degree. A lot of the reason, I have been told, is that protein takes significantly more time and effort to cook than other foods. I suppose this is true if you don’t plan ahead and cook in bulk. The hurdle most people face when cooking in bulk is a lack of flavor. For reasons that still elude me, people have this habit of making bland and boring tasting food when they cook in bulk; perhaps the assumption is that it will be too hard to make a lot of good tasting food.

Anyone who has put serious effort into their eating knows how tiresome it can be to force yourself to keep eating. There comes a point where even the thought of putting another forkful in your mouth makes you feel nauseous. For anyone who has never been in this situation (for instance those who have always been trying to lose weight) it can be hard to imagine this point ever occurring. But it absolutely does. It’s even unavoidable at certain intake levels, no matter what the food is or what it tastes like. If, however, the food tastes good—really good—it can help allow you to keep eating. Indeed, the entire processed food industry, which does a tremendous job of hijacking our bodies to eat past their natural satiety point, is built around this premise.

Marinating meat is a fantastic way to bring robust flavor to your food with minimal effort. Most people know this, even if they are too lazy to do it. I frankly am in most cases. It takes too much preplanning. The only exception is when I am prepping food for the week. It actually makes life a lot easier. The following is an example of a marinade that I absolutely love and find myself rarely getting sick of:

RECIPE

Per 1 pound boneless meat of your choice. I usually use skinless chicken breasts or thighs, though steak is great here as well

• 1 teaspoon table salt
• 1/2 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
• 2 teaspoons chipotle chili powder for spice lovers OR 1 teaspoon smoked paprika and 1 teaspoon mild chili powder
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1/4 cup distilled vinegar
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons neutral flavored oil, like avocado oil
• 1/4 cup water

DIRECTIONS
Put the meat in a Ziplock bag or a large sealable container. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well to combine. Let it sit in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours, up to 3 days.

My preferred way of cooking this is grilling, ideally over charcoal for added flavor. Broiler works well, and pan-seared works too.

The meat has a deep flavor that lends itself well to a lot of different applications. A burrito bowl is the most logical and quite nutritious.